Has more Fact Checker Pinocchios than net delegates in past two weeks
Tonight, we will see if Bernie Sanders will earn another fact check demonstrating he’s fast and loose with the truth. He’s on a roll…nearly a fact check a day since the start of April.
Bernie Sanders has had a rough couple of weeks with the facts. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza awarded Sanders the “Worst Week in Washington” last week. Sanders also said a series of “incorrect” and “false” claims, like saying Hillary Clinton called him “unqualified” (she didn’t). But the facts didn’t stop him. He doubled down on this incorrect claim. In all, he earned more Pinocchios in one week from the Post’s “Fact Checker” than delegates he netted from the Wisconsin Primary and Wyoming Caucus. Since April 1st, there have been 12 fact checks issued debunking his claims.
TWO WEEKS, TWELVE FACT CHECKS, FIFTEEN PINOCCHIOS
New York Times: Bernie Sanders’s claim that Hillary Clinton had received significant contributions from the fossil fuel industry was incorrect. “Senator Bernie Sanders said Hillary Clinton has received significant contributions from the fossil fuel industry. [Verdict:] Not that much.” [Fact Check, New York Times, 4/2/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker: Sanders campaign’s “exaggerating” oil and gas industry contributions to the Clinton campaign earned “Three Pinocchios.” “The Sanders campaign is exaggerating the contributions that Clinton has received from the oil and gas industry. In the context of her overall campaign, the contributions are hardly significant. It’s especially misleading to count all of the funds raised by lobbyists with multiple clients as money “given” by the fossil-fuel industry. Three Pinocchios” [Fact Checker, Washington Post, 4/2/16]
PolitiFact: Bernie Sanders’s claim that a proposed Wall Street speculation tax would cover the cost of his free college plan was rated “Mostly False.” “Sanders said his free public university tuition program “is paid for… by a tax on Wall Street’s speculation.” Sanders’ $75 billion proposal is a federal matching program, meaning the Wall Street speculation tax would cover two-thirds of the costs. States would be required to pick up the tab for the remaining one-third. There is some question if some states would participate in the program. Recently, states have refused to be part of Medicaid expansion under a more generous style of cost-sharing. Sanders has a point that his proposed Wall Street tax would cover part of the plan, but he left out the significant state contribution. And it’s not a sure thing that every state would join in. So we rate his claim Mostly False.” [PolitiFact, 4/4/16]
PolitiFact Florida: Bernie Sanders ad claiming Sanders had “fundamentally changed the lives” of farm workers in Immokalee was rated “Half True.” “Sanders’ ad says he ‘fundamentally changed the lives’ of Immokalee farm workers in Florida. Sanders helped give national publicity to the struggles of Immokalee tomato pickers in 2008. He visited with the workers, wrote letters to tomato purchasers urging them to join a program to pay workers more, met with a representative from the growers exchange and held a Senate hearing in 2008. About two years later, the workers reached an agreement with the growers. The coalition and the growers’ exchange both say Sanders should get some credit, although it’s likely that the agreement could have been reached without his efforts. Whether the agreement ‘fundamentally changed the lives’ of the workers is difficult to quantify. The agreement included an increase for purchasers which goes toward pickers, but it’s unclear on average how many dollars more each picker earns per week as a result of it. There have been other successes in the agreement, including the resolution of worker complaints. We rate this statement Half True.” [PolitiFact Florida, 4/5/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker: Bernie Sanders’s claim that he had released his full federal tax returns earned “Four Pinocchios.” “Tapper correctly questioned Sanders, asking why “nobody has seen them [federal tax returns] at all.” Yet Sanders interrupted Tapper to reject the notion, insisting: “That is not true. Of course, we have released them in the past.” But this answer is nothing remotely close to the little federal tax records he has released to the public. Sanders says there is nothing in his 2015 tax return that is different from what the public has “seen for the last many years.” This indicates he may have been referring to the information filed in his financial disclosures. But that’s not the same as a full federal tax return — and as a longtime member of Congress, Sanders should know that. Sanders is not required to release his tax filings, and he clearly decided to keep them confidential. That’s his choice. But it doesn’t excuse him from misleading the public to believe otherwise with this false claim. Four Pinocchios.” [Fact Checker, Washington Post, 4/5/16]
PolitiFact: Bernie Sanders’s claim that he had released his past tax returns was rated “False.” “Sanders told Tapper that his campaign has released his past tax returns. Sanders said his 2015 return is forthcoming, and he has made other types of disclosures in the past, including congressional and presidential-candidate filings. But his releases of prior-year tax forms — the specific documents Tapper asked about — have been limited in several ways. He’s only released information for one year, which pales compared to most other recent presidential candidates, and even that year’s release only includes a summary page, not the full return. We rate his claim False.” [PolitiFact, 4/6/16]
FactCheck.org: Bernie Sanders and his spokesman were “wrong” to claim that he had released his tax returns. “Has Sanders released his ‘full returns’ in the past? No. We asked Michael Briggs, a Sanders campaign spokesman, twice about the senator’s tax returns and twice we got virtually the same response. ‘He released 2014 federal and state returns and will release 2015 returns after he files with the IRS,’ Briggs said. But Tapper’s question was about Sanders releasing his full returns, so Sanders and his spokesman are wrong to say that Sanders did release his tax returns.” [FactCheck.org, 4/6/16]
FactCheck.org: Bernie Sanders used “padded data” and a “tortured definition of fossil fuel money” to back up his claims about fossil fuel industry contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “Sen. Bernie Sanders uses padded data to back up his claim that ‘Hillary Clinton received $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry.’ The figure relies on a tortured definition of fossil fuel money. It includes contributions donated by lobbyists who represent many clients other than oil or gas companies. It also includes money those lobbyists raised from other donors who have nothing to do with the oil and gas industry. And most of the $4.5 million total is tied to donations made to a super PAC supporting Clinton — which Clinton does not control — by two people who run investment funds that include investments in oil and gas companies. But those investments represent a fraction of the overall investment portfolio.” [FactCheck.org, 4/7/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker: Bernie Sanders’s claim that Hillary Clinton called him “not qualified” earned “Three Pinocchios” for “putting words in Clinton’s mouth.” “Sanders is putting words in Clinton’s mouth. She never said “quote unquote” that he was not qualified to be president. In fact, she diplomatically went out of her way to avoid saying that, without at the same time saying he was qualified. The Washington Post article appropriately noted that she raised questions about his qualifications, but certainly never said or suggested she said Sanders was unqualified. Sanders would have been on safer ground if he had said Clinton is raising questions about his qualifications and now he would like to raise questions about her qualifications. But he can’t slam her for words she did not say.” [Washington Post, 4/7/16]
PolitiFact: Bernie Sanders’s claim that Hillary Clinton had called him “not qualified to be president” was rated “Mostly False.” “Sanders said Clinton ‘has been saying lately that she thinks that I am “not qualified to be president.”’ That’s the spin some media outlets are putting on it, when Clinton dodged the question of whether or not she thinks Sanders is qualified. But she’s never directly said it, as Sanders specifically alleged. Because the statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it Mostly False.” [Politifact, 4/7/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker: Bernie Sanders’s claim that the Panama free-trade agreement encouraged tax avoidance schemes in Panama earned “Three Pinocchios.” “Sanders has not demonstrated that the Panama free-trade agreement encouraged tax avoidance schemes in Panama. The trade deal did not cover tax issues and the section cited by his staff merely updated an existing investment agreement with Panama. The side agreements on taxes and bearer shares actually appear to have had an impact, even if Panama’s overall performance on stemming shady money continues to be poor. We understand that Sanders is highly critical of free-trade agreements, but in this instance, his claims that provisions in the Panama deal fostered tax avoidance fall short. Perhaps he could make a case that the deal bolstered up an economy built in part on fraud, but that’s not the same thing as saying the deal itself promoted offshore accounts. In fact, U.S. officials tried to use the FTA as leverage to improve access to tax information about U.S. citizens using offshore accounts in Panama. Three Pinocchios. [Washington Post, 4/9/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker: Bernie Sanders’s claim that he had visited the General Electric plant in Vermont earned Two Pinocchios. “As a factual matter, Sanders clearly has not visited the plant or taken a tour since he became senator nine years ago. Sanders bluntly accused Immelt of “not telling the truth,” saying he had visited the plant “years ago.” But that sidesteps the point that Immelt was making–that the company has invested tens of millions of dollars to modernize the facility and yet Sanders has not bothered to see the improvements. His posture stands in contrast to other members of the Vermont delegation who have been repeat visitors to the facility during Sanders’s senate tenure. In bluntly dismissing Immelt’s statement as a lie, Sanders misleadingly led viewers to believe he had an open-and-shut case. But the reality is more complex. Two Pinocchios.” [Washington Post, 4/13/16]