This week, the fact-checking website drew Maddow’s ire after rating Sen. Marc Rubio’s comment that the majority of Americans are conservative as “mostly true.”
PolitiFact cited a 2011 Gallup poll, which found 40 percent of Americans described themselves as conservatives, 21 percent described themselves as liberal and 35 percent described themselves as moderate. The website also noted that Gallup has never found that a majority of Americans describe themselves as conservative.
The site was apparently conflating a majority and a plurality — which is not at all uncommon, but technically wrong.
“Seriously,” Maddow said. “Claim A, false. Claim B, false. Overall PolitiFact rating, ‘mostly true.’ PolitiFact, please leave the building. Do not bother turning off the lights when you leave. We will need them on to clean up the mess you have left behind you as you are leaving.”
“PolitiFact, you are a disaster,” she added.
And she's right. PolitiFact is shockingly bad, and they have no credibility as a fact checking body anymore, for the simple reason that pleasing the Republican party and their cadre of stupid lies and the liars that tell them is more important than actually checking facts.
They're pretty much done.
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