The Washington Post Fact Checker has been quite content to live comfortably in the Biden administration’s lower digestive tract. But occasionally — very rarely, mind you — the White House does something that even the immensely talented King Fact Checker Glenn Kessler can’t just look the other way on.
It takes a lot to make Glenn Kessler do a double take, but Joe Biden’s definitely up to the challenge this week:
👀👀👀👀when the WH's week-ahead schedule shows the president will repeat a false claim that already earned Three Pinocchios (barely missing Four). https://t.co/UeDQ67XwK6 pic.twitter.com/Jqc7R6ICIL
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 9, 2022
Here’s how Kessler’s April 21, 2022, fact-check concluded:
[GOP Sen. Rick] Scott’s tax plan is certainly ripe for political fodder, but the White House is pushing its luck here. Scott is a Republican, and he is in Congress and part of the GOP leadership. But his snippet of an idea, such as it is, cannot be labeled a “congressional Republican” plan. No legislation has been crafted, and no other Republican lawmakers have announced their support.
One cannot instantly assume every person in a political party supports a proposal by a prominent member. We’re reminded a bit of how hard the Trump presidential campaign tried to falsely tag Biden with ownership of the “radical” Green New Deal, a congressional resolution written in part by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), even though Biden had his own more moderate plan to address climate change.
Scott has already publicly amended the idea in ways that make the instant analysis cited by the White House less relevant. But he has not officially abandoned the original language and the idea still does technically exist on paper — at a time when there are few competing policy platforms issued by congressional Republicans.
That last point was the only thing that kept us, just barely, from giving this claim a Four-Pinocchio rating. The White House earns Three Pinocchios.
The Biden White House missed out on Four Pinocchios by the skin of their teeth — and now, in their sweaty, panting desperation, they’re pressing ahead with a lie because they’ve literally got no other strategy.
When you lose Kessler.https://t.co/TWeIK3aSov
— mallen2010 (@mallen_2010) May 9, 2022
It’s great that Glenn Kessler’s willing to call them out on it, but, to quote a classic, what difference, at this point, does it make?
Why does the White House care? Journalists don’t really push back.
— e-beth (@ebeth360) May 9, 2022
They'll continue to repeat false and defamatory claims because the push back from the media/Left is limited to a couple of tweets here and there. https://t.co/7BNOfcLQSN
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) May 9, 2022
Joe Biden’s White House is a dumpster fire, and, despite the occasional brake pump from Kessler, they’re effectively going to get away with 99% of the stupid crap they pull.
And they pull a lot of stupid crap.
You know Dems are getting desperate when they’re resorting to “ultra-MAGA” talking points
Are their consultants 5 years old? Even for politics, this is childish https://t.co/sjFsKLi2bw
— Neil Gorsuch maskless (@GorsuchMaskless) May 9, 2022
Lol… the WH is calling people “ultra-MAGA” now? Worst framing ever https://t.co/wbXs3VSz4V
— Zachery Henry (@zhenryaz) May 9, 2022
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