We’ve all been on pins and needles ever since last week, when Barack Obama stood up on a stage in Brazil and lied through his teeth about U.S. gun policy.
Obama tells Brazil crowd: "Some of you may be aware our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon any time — without much if any regulation, they can buy it over the Internet, they can buy machine guns." pic.twitter.com/MFFTgaFwLS
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 31, 2019
Surely the fact checkers would finally call him out for his brazenly dishonest claims, right? Right???
Well, today, PolitiFact, the King of the Fact Checkers, finally got around to covering Obama’s remarks, and they’ve issued their official ruling:
At a conference in Brazil, @BarackObama said "Anybody can buy any weapon, any time without much, if any, regulation. They buy it over the internet. They can buy machine guns." That's way off target, especially on machine guns. https://t.co/sJC6i4SPEx pic.twitter.com/PDlmFvwXxi
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) June 4, 2019
Sounds pretty harsh. We’ve gotta be in full-on “Pants on Fire” territory, for sure.
Oh:
Taking the elements of his statement together, we rate this claim Mostly False.
Mostly false. https://t.co/R9fa9D5Sr1
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) June 4, 2019
Mostly false.
Only “mostly”? pic.twitter.com/y9HQv3ules
— #That’sTrue (@PaulWDrake) June 4, 2019
Mostly false? It’s completely false
— Tony Two Bets (@tonytwobets) June 4, 2019
Is it really that difficult for PolitiFact to just admit that Barack Obama lied about this?
This fact-check is a good example of how framing can radically alter what the ruling is or should be. pic.twitter.com/Fd2DZGmsfo
— Anti-Alex-Griswoldism (@HashtagGriswold) June 4, 2019
That first sentence, taken alone is Pants on Fire, end of story.
The second, taken in combination with the first, is False to Pants on Fire. In isolation, True.
The third, taken in isolation, is Mostly False. Taken with the other two, False, pushing Pants on Fire.
— Anti-Alex-Griswoldism (@HashtagGriswold) June 4, 2019
Recalls another Politfact fact-check of Obama I thought should've been straight up Pants on Fire, but they generously gave Mostly False, because "in some lower-income and high-crime neighborhoods, it is strikingly easy for even teens to acquire a handgun." https://t.co/dz40O9fUB3 pic.twitter.com/a9cyXmDzXs
— Anti-Alex-Griswoldism (@HashtagGriswold) June 4, 2019
2 + 2 = 7
2 + 2 = 5,322
2 + 2 = 933
2 + 2 = 4Ruling: "Mostly false"
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) June 4, 2019