Monday, June 11, 2012

PolitiFact - 'Romney Reduced Unemployment to Just 4.7%' Rated "Half-True", Even Though it is True

PolitiFact, a completely neutral arbiter. That is, as long as neutral means skewed Democrat.

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/11/politifact-its-half-true-that-unemployment-in-massachusetts-declined-to-4-7-under-romney-even-though-its-totally-true

"I don’t care about PolitiFact any more than you do, but conservatives are having so much fun on Twitter with this dumb spin — check the #PolitifactRatings hashtag and just keep scrolling — that a post is obligatory.
...
Yeah, good point. If not for PolitiFact, who knows how many people might have watched Romney’s ad and concluded that he personally knocked a point off of unemployment unaided by anyone or anything else? Oh, wait, I know: Zero. Zero people would have concluded that.

Look on the bright side, though: At least they gave a rating this time. When they tackled The One’s youthful dog-eating, they couldn’t bear to slap a “true” sticker on it.
"

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jun/11/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-massachusetts-unemployment-hit-47

"The ad -- which combines stirring music, footage of welders and forklift drivers and images of Romney gladhandling with factory employees -- was released June 8, 2012. "Romney," the ad says, "reduced unemployment to just 4.7 percent."

We checked Bureau of Labor Statistics data and found that the statistic was correct. The low point for the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate during Romney’s tenure was 4.7 percent. (It happened during Romney’s final full month in office, December 2006.)
...
Our ruling

The number is correct, but the ad oversteps in suggesting that Romney did this on his own. The employment situation in Massachusetts was subject to many factors, not just the governor’s policy. On balance, we rate the claim Half True.
"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Like what you read; Subscribe/Fan/Follow