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Top 10 Facts About Politifact’s Lie

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Politifact yesterday earned itself a “Pants on Fire” award for declaring the statement that “Republicans voted to end Medicare” is the Lie of the Year. It isn’t. Here’s why.

So much has been written on Politfact’s decision to enter into the world of fake balance and opinion-posing-as-fact journalism. As a publisher and as a journalist, I applaud the words of Steve Bennen, Steve Bennen again, Dave Weigel, , Jamison Foser,  Igor Volsky, Paul Krugman, John Hudson, Digby, Jonathan Chait, Jamelle Bouie, Brian Beutler, and .

Read all their thoughts, if you haven’t already.

Here’s a roundup. The top 10 facts about Politfact’s Lie:

  • :
    “House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has spent the better part of this month running a ballot-stuffing campaign to get Politifact to label Democratic claims that he wants to “end Medicare” labeled as their “lie of the year” and today he succeeded as Politifact be clowns itself.”
  • Jamison Foser:
    “This is nonsensical hair-splitting. Medicare isn’t a broad concept; it’s a specific, concrete program. Ending it “as we know it” is ending it. Otherwise, ending it would require ending it as we don’t know it, which would be a neat trick.”
  • Jamison Foser:
    “False balance has the effect of a thumb on the scale in favor of the less meritorious position. Treating a falsehood and the truth as though they are equivalent gives lies — and the people who tell them — an advantage in the marketplace of ideas. It encourages politicians who lie to continue to lie, and those who tell the truth to start lying.”
  • Brian Beutler:
    “The reaction from Republicans has been muted so far — a sign, perhaps, that they don’t want to reopen this old wound. But back in their districts, when constituents grill them, Republicans will now have a compelling citation. It just happens to be a sham.”
  • Steve Bennen:
    “Medicare is a single-payer health care system offering guaranteed benefits to seniors. The House Republican budget plan intended to privatize the existing system and replace it with something very different — a voucher scheme. It would still be called ‘Medicare,’ but it wouldn’t be Medicare.It seems foolish to have to parse the meaning of the word ‘end,’ but if there’s a program, and it’s replaced with a different program, proponents brought an end to the original program. That’s what the verb means. I’ve been trying to think of the best analogy for this. How about this one: imagine someone owns a Ferrari. It’s expensive and drives beautifully, and the owner desperately wants to keep his car intact. Now imagine I took the car away, removed the metallic badge off the trunk that says ‘Ferrari,’ I stuck it on a golf cart, and I handed the owner the keys.“’Where’s my Ferrari?’ the owner would ask.“’It’s right here,’ I’d respond. ‘This has four wheels, a steering wheel, and pedals, and it says ‘Ferrari’ right there on the back.'”By PolitiFact’s reasoning, I haven’t actually replaced the car — and if you disagree, you’re a pants-on-fire liar.”
  • :
    “I think there’s still a way of persuading Politifact that they erred. Here’s why: Even if you agree with PolitiFact that the GOP plan wouldn’t have “ended” Medicare, the Dem claim that this is the case still can’t be shown to be a “lie.” That’s because this disagreement ultimately comes down to differing interpretations of known facts — and not to a difference over the facts themselves.”
  • Jonathan Chait:
    “Does the Republican plan indeed end Medicare? I would argue yes. But it’s obviously a question of interpretation, not fact. And the whole problem with Politifact’s “Lie of the Year” is that it doesn’t grasp this distinction. Politifact doesn’t even seem to understand the criteria for judging whether a claim is a question of opinion or a question of fact, let alone whether it is true.”
  • Paul Krugman:
    “The answer is, of course, obvious: the people at Politifact are terrified of being considered partisan if they acknowledge the clear fact that there’s a lot more lying on one side of the political divide than on the other. So they’ve bent over backwards to appear ‘balanced’ — and in the process made themselves useless and irrelevant.”
  • Greg Sargent via Twitter :
    “If I bought Politifact and converted it into a direct mail enterprise, and you said I ended Politifact, you would be Liar of the Year.”
  • Finally, many who have written about this Politifact scandal have cited Politifact’s own reader poll — the one that was ballot-box stuffed by Paul Ryan — and suggested that it was from those top three lies — “elected,” as it were, by the general public, from which Politifact chose their “winner.”Politifact’s editor Bill Adair at 12:01 am on December 20 published “How we chose the 2011 Lie of the Year,” and in the second paragraph from the top clearly states, “How we chose the 2011 Lie of the Year.”Then, Adair spends the majority of the rest of the column detailing the readers’ votes process and results, and strongly suggests — really, leads readers to believe — Politifact chose the “winner” from the readers’ list, not from their total list of finalists.

    But now, Adair is walking back that obvious suggestion, and claiming the “winner” came from the finalists list.

    Really?

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News

‘Utter Detachment From Reality’: Expert Breaks Down Trump’s Economic Policy Flaws

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November 12, 2025

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Amid increasing bipartisan anger over the state of the Trump economy, one economist says he can explain the flaws at the root of President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

The most recent available data show a steady uptick in inflation, to 3%. Costs at the grocery store checkout line have increased across a large range of goods. Major corporations have announced or are planning to lay off thousands — or even tens of thousands — of workers. Unemployment is estimated to be up, to a four-year high, per the most recent data. Consumer confidence has dropped to a near-record low. There is a possibility that some parts of the country may already be in a recession, according to one economist.

As the Trump White House weighs launching a nationwide blitz to improve the President’s economic approval numbers, which are underwater, Justin Wolfers, professor of economics and public policy and a frequent cable news guest, is targeting what he sees as the underlying problem in the president’s economic policies.

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Trump has been highly criticized for holding a “Great Gatsby” themed party on the eve of tens of millions of Americans losing SNAP benefits. Demolishing the East Wing of the White House was widely unpopular. Overall, according to data from The New York Times, Trump’s average approval rating has never been lower and his average disapproval rating has never been higher.

“The problem isn’t losing touch with the American people,” Professor Wolfers told CNN. “It’s literally losing touch with reality.”

“The claim that prices are falling at the drugstore, at the grocery store, in our everyday lives, is just on its face flat out false,” he continued. “You and I can see it. I can point you to any number of data collections that show it. I could point you to any number of stores whose annual report suggests that their prices are continuing to rise.”

“This is literally undisputable,” said Wolfers, who is also a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution.

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Wolfers paraphrased President Trump from an earlier CNN clip, saying, “The economy is booming, because I brought in $20 trillion worth of investment.”

“That is quite literally a number that he made up out of whole cloth,” Wolfers charged. “I would challenge your viewers, go to the White House website, see if you can find out where he made this up. It is implausible, it’s impossible, it’s not true, and it’s made up.”

“And this utter detachment from reality, which, I think, sort of began with the 2020 election, but now has become an increasing part of their economic policy: if you can’t see the reality and the facts in front of you, you can’t design the right policy to correct the real problems that exist.”

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‘What Could Go Wrong?’: Religious AI Chatbots Let You Text With ‘Jesus’ — or ‘Satan’

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5 hours ago

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November 12, 2025

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As Americans drift from organized religion and congregations consolidate, pastors are turning to artificial intelligence to shoulder parts of their ministry — while some worshippers are turning to AI for something else entirely. Certain AI tools help clergy manage schedules or craft sermons; others invite believers to text directly with “Jesus,” or even “Satan.”

Calling it a “new digital awakening,” Axios reports that “AI is helping some churches stay relevant in the face of shrinking staffs, empty pews and growing online audiences. But the practice raises new questions about who, or what, is guiding the flock.”

“New AI-powered apps allow you to ‘text with Jesus’ or ‘talk to the Bible,’ giving the impression you are communicating with a deity or angel,” according to Axios. “Other apps can create personalized prayers, let you confess your sins or offer religious advice on life’s decisions.”

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The apps that “allow” people to “talk” to “Jesus,” “Mary,” the “Bible,” or even “Satan” are reportedly the most popular.

“What could go wrong?” Robert P. Jones, CEO of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, sarcastically asked, according to Axios.

Text With Jesus bills itself as “a new, interactive way to engage with your faith.” Its website calls it “a revolutionary AI-powered chatbot app, designed for devoted Christians seeking a deeper connection with the Bible’s most iconic figures.”

In the FAQ section of the website, one question asks, “Am I really talking to Jesus? Isn’t this blasphemous?”

“Our app is a tool for exploration, education, and engagement with biblical narratives,” is the response, “and it is not intended to replace or mimic direct communication with divine entities, which is a deeply personal aspect of one’s faith.”

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Last month, FOX 32 Chicago reported on criticism of the app.

“Critics call the app blasphemous. In an essay for The PreachersWord, minister Ken Weliever wrote that he would ‘just open my Bible and read it for myself,’ questioning how accurate an AI ‘Jesus’ could ever be. He pointed to answers on same-sex marriage signed with rainbow emojis and called the app’s ‘Satan’ feature chilling.”

“Moody Center President James Spencer wrote in The Christian Post the AI ‘Jesus’ seemed ‘less concerned with fulfilling the Law and the Prophets than providing answers palatable to the itching ears of 21st century users.'”

According to the app’s Mac App Store pages, the company that produces Text With Jesus has additional offerings, including Text With History, Text With Authors, Texts From Bernie Sanders, and Texts From Oscar Wilde.

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Image via Shutterstock

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GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

Published

7 hours ago

on

November 12, 2025

By

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee alleged a “massive coverup” of the Epstein files, accused congressional Republicans of being “complicit,” and signaled that he and his Democratic colleagues will release even more documents, likely later on Wednesday.

“Jeffrey Epstein referenced President Donald Trump in emails to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a journalist, claiming in one that Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ according to emails released by House Democrats,” NBC News reported. “Democrats on the House Oversight committee released three email chains, sent between 2011 and 2019, saying the documents came from the convicted sex offender’s estate as part of the committee’s investigation of the Epstein case.”

Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) told MSNBC his committee received about 23,000 emails “last week, and we’ve been going through — our team, of course — through all of these very carefully over the last few days.”

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“We obviously released some today,” he said, referring to the bombshell emails. “We’ll be releasing additional documents, likely later today.”

Noting that “we’ve been demanding that Donald Trump and the DOJ release the full Epstein files,” Garcia added, “what’s been released today” are “some quite serious, I think, connections between what Donald Trump may have known.”

Garcia said, “what’s important right now is that we want to know why Donald Trump spent the entire campaign, saying that he would release the files. And now that he’s in the White House, there is a massive cover-up going on.”

Responding to claims from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the release of the documents is a “hoax,” Garcia replied, “Then release all the files.”

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“If the president has nothing to hide, if the press secretary were there in her comments and statement, if they have nothing to hide at the White House or Department of Justice, then all we want is for them to release the full files,” he urged. “You can’t spend your entire campaign, saying you’re gonna do something, and make a commitment to the American people, and then backtrack.”

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