Washington Post Fact-Checker Gets Dragged for Attacking Bernie Sanders Over Extremely True Fact
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler was roundly criticized for attacking Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders over a statement that was 100 percent true, but according to Kessler was “not especially meaningful” because of how very true it was.
At last Thursday’s Democratic Presidential Debate Part Two: Electoral Boogaloo, Sanders told moderators, “We have a new vision for America. And at a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America, while 500,000 people are sleeping out on the streets today, we think it is time for change, real change.”
Kessler included that statement in his post-debate fact-check, and found that while the statement was “based on numbers that add up,” the comparison was “not especially meaningful” because “people in the bottom half have essentially no wealth, as debts cancel out whatever assets they might have.”
Some people disagreed with that assessment and seemed to think the fact that the bottom half of Americans have “essentially no wealth” made Sanders’ statement more meaningful, not less. Those people included senior Bernie Sanders campaign adviser David Sirota, who filed Kessler’s assertion under “THINGS YOU CAN’T MAKE UP”:
THINGS YOU CAN’T MAKE UP: WashPost “fact checker” @GlennKesslerWP criticizes @BernieSanders for saying 3 families control more wealth than the bottom 50% – Kessler says because the bottom 50% have no wealth at all, this is “not especially meaningful.” https://t.co/Piv4ZCJxA0 pic.twitter.com/k7qGpqGgjD
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 1, 2019
Others were even less kind.
Glenn Kessler remains just an appalling assbrainhttps://t.co/EjuNi1UwzR
— Albert Burneko (@AlbertBurneko) July 1, 2019
democracy dies in darkness when i can’t even automatically read glenn kessler’s latest garbage pic.twitter.com/AM1WVq9ZGc
— Naomi LaChance (@lachancenaomi) July 1, 2019
Kessler doesn’t get enough credit for being the most craven pundit worm in the game. https://t.co/i3ju9VqDcS
— luke oneil (@lukeoneil47) July 1, 2019
if you told me glenn kessler was actually an MK Ultra – neurohacking psyop designed to give a specific kill-list of intelligent readers aneurysms and corrode the collective intelligence of everyone who read him I would have to give that zero pinocchios
— Patrick Blanchfield (@PatBlanchfield) July 1, 2019
“The wealth disparity in this country is so bad, three people have more wealth than the bottom half of the country.”
Glenn “The Facts Man” Kessler: WRONG! Those people in the bottom half are too poor to even compare! Apples to oranges you fool!
— jordan (@JordanUhl) July 1, 2019
This is fact-checking eating itself.
“Yes, the 3 richest people have more wealth than the bottom 50%. But that 50% basically has no wealth at all! So it’s not…’especially meaningful’!”
I mean, in what universe can this be defended as a “fact check”?https://t.co/kAs3B0InTn pic.twitter.com/abKeKYaSdV
— Joshua Benton (@jbenton) July 1, 2019
???????????? it’s not comparing apples and oranges, it is comparing apples to no apples https://t.co/QOzOySQCkZ
— libby watson (@libbycwatson) July 1, 2019
Watch Sanders’ claim above, via MSNBC.
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