I read a book that came out recently by Bill Adair, who was the founder, I think, of Politifact, a fact-checking organization. The book was "Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Can Burn Down Our Democracy." And while Adair is quick to point out he's not trying to create false equiva…
I read a book that came out recently by Bill Adair, who was the founder, I think, of Politifact, a fact-checking organization. The book was "Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Can Burn Down Our Democracy." And while Adair is quick to point out he's not trying to create false equivalences, and that Republicans are much worse, he does want to stress that Democrats lie, too. Except, his favorite go-to example for Democratic lying is their insistence that Republicans are going to come for people's Social Security. Adair insists there is no evidence for this.
But there is plenty of evidence! Bush literally tried to privatize it in his second term, turning Social Security into a winners and losers affair. Rick Scott's GOP platform for 2024 explicitly included cuts to entitlements, which forced Mitch McConnell to publicly distance himself from his own party's platform. And now we have DOGE.
There simply is no comparison between the two major parties.
Exactly. The "both sides lie" argument is one of the laziest, most corrosive tropes in political journalism. It gives cover to the party actively trying to dismantle democracy while nitpicking the party trying to prevent it.
Republicans have tried to gut Social Security. George W. Bush went full steam ahead on privatization. Paul Ryan spent his entire career dreaming of slashing entitlements. Rick Scott proposed sunsetting Social Security entirely every five years. And now we have Donald Trump openly calling for cuts, while his Super PAC just put out a budget blueprint pushing the same thing.
Bill Adair might have founded PolitiFact, but this take is PolitiFiction. There’s a difference between distorting the truth and stating the obvious based on historical precedent. When one party repeatedly introduces legislation, floats budgets, and openly states their desire to "reform" (read: gut) Social Security, it’s not a lie to say they’ll do it. It’s a warning based on observable reality.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But only one party is actively trying to strip away fundamental rights, dismantle democracy, and serve the ultra-rich at everyone else's expense. Pretending otherwise isn’t “balance.” It’s malpractice.
I read a book that came out recently by Bill Adair, who was the founder, I think, of Politifact, a fact-checking organization. The book was "Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Can Burn Down Our Democracy." And while Adair is quick to point out he's not trying to create false equivalences, and that Republicans are much worse, he does want to stress that Democrats lie, too. Except, his favorite go-to example for Democratic lying is their insistence that Republicans are going to come for people's Social Security. Adair insists there is no evidence for this.
But there is plenty of evidence! Bush literally tried to privatize it in his second term, turning Social Security into a winners and losers affair. Rick Scott's GOP platform for 2024 explicitly included cuts to entitlements, which forced Mitch McConnell to publicly distance himself from his own party's platform. And now we have DOGE.
There simply is no comparison between the two major parties.
Exactly. The "both sides lie" argument is one of the laziest, most corrosive tropes in political journalism. It gives cover to the party actively trying to dismantle democracy while nitpicking the party trying to prevent it.
Republicans have tried to gut Social Security. George W. Bush went full steam ahead on privatization. Paul Ryan spent his entire career dreaming of slashing entitlements. Rick Scott proposed sunsetting Social Security entirely every five years. And now we have Donald Trump openly calling for cuts, while his Super PAC just put out a budget blueprint pushing the same thing.
Bill Adair might have founded PolitiFact, but this take is PolitiFiction. There’s a difference between distorting the truth and stating the obvious based on historical precedent. When one party repeatedly introduces legislation, floats budgets, and openly states their desire to "reform" (read: gut) Social Security, it’s not a lie to say they’ll do it. It’s a warning based on observable reality.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But only one party is actively trying to strip away fundamental rights, dismantle democracy, and serve the ultra-rich at everyone else's expense. Pretending otherwise isn’t “balance.” It’s malpractice.