# Progressives Unhappy With Politifact's Biggest Lie of 2011

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-unhappy-with-politifacts-biggest-lie-of-2011/606984>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 21, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-unhappy-with-politifacts-biggest-lie-of-2011/606984 "2011-12-21T19:58:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/progressives-unhappy-with-politifacts-biggest-lie-of-2011/606984/1 "2011-12-21T19:58:47Z")

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Paul Krugman’s [conscience](http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/politifact-r-i-p/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto) is shocked by the fact that Politifact, known for their ratings of various statements by politicians from True to Half True to False to Pants-on-Fire, has selected as their [“Lie of the Year,”](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/dec/20/lie-year-democrats-claims-republicans-voted-end-me/) the Democrat’s claim that seniors would have to pay $12,500 more for health care “because Republicans voted to end Medicare.”

> [@Politifact](#):
>
> Just four days after the party-line vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a Web ad that said seniors will have to pay $12,500 more for health care “because Republicans voted to end Medicare.”
> 
> Rep. Steve Israel of New York, head of the DCCC, appeared on cable news shows and declared that Republicans voted to “terminate Medicare.” A Web video from the Agenda Project, a liberal group, said the plan would leave the country “without Medicare” and showed a Ryan look-alike pushing an old woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. And just last month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a fundraising appeal that said: “House Republicans’ vote to end Medicare is a shameful act of betrayal.”

Krugman focuses his rebuttal on the simple claim of “ending” Medicare, contending it’s a fair claim to make because the privatization plan would have drastically changed the program. But Politifact addresses that, noting that its concern was with the overreaching nature of the claims:

> [@Politifact](#):
>
> [ul][li]They ignored the fact that the Ryan plan would not affect people currently in Medicare – or even the people 55 to 65 who would join the program in the next 10 years.[/li]  
> [li]They used harsh terms such as “end” and “kill” when the program would still exist, although in a privatized system.[/li]  
> [li]They used pictures and video of elderly people who clearly were too old to be affected by the Ryan plan. The DCCC video that aired four days after the vote featured an elderly man who had to take a job as a stripper to pay his medical bills.[/li][/ul]

My own opinion is that Krugman privately thought of Politifact as an ally, and is upset to see his ally attacking friendly forces. But that’s pure speculation on my part. What’s undenaible is that Krugman, along with Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, and The New Republic clearly believe Politifact’s analysis should never have been published. Whether they think this because they believe it to be flawed, or simply strategically unfriendly, is for another day. For now: Is Politifact correct to call the left’s collection of claims about Ryan’s plan a lie? A big lie?

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