Monday, October 11, 2004
Damn that Factcheck
Factcheck.org got into the business this election cycle of being an impartial, reliable source for information about the truth or falsity of the campaigns for office. On their website, it says:
We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
So people working for the Kerry campaign took that to heart, assuming that factcheck did its homework when it came up with that line that the President classified as a small business when he received $84 from a timber-growing company in 2001. In fact, here is what their analysis said:
President Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business owner" under the Republican definition, based on his 2001 federal income tax returns. He reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise. However, 99.99% of Bush's total income came from other sources that year. (Bush also qualified as a "small business owner" in 2000 based on $314 of "business income," but not in 2002 and 2003 when he reported his timber income as "royalties" on a different tax schedule.)
So John Kerry goes into the second debate and says this:
And you know why he gets that count? The president got $84 from a timber company that owns, and he's counted as a small business. Dick Cheney's counted as a small business. That's how they do things. That's just not right.
To which the President starts twitching, and then launches into this series of zingers:
BUSH: I own a timber company?
(LAUGHTER)
That's news to me.
(LAUGHTER)
Need some wood?
(LAUGHTER)
Now, after Factcheck gets an overflow of visits to their site, they admit that their first report may not be accurate. Here is the correction:
(Oct 9; CORRECTION: What we originally reported as a "timber-growing" enterprise is actually described on Bush's tax return as an "oil and gas production" concern, the Lone Star Trust. We were confused because The Lone Star Trust currently owns 50% of another company, "LSTF, LLC", described on Bush’s 2003 financial disclosure forms as a limited-liability company organized "for the purpose of the production of trees for commercial sales." So, Bush does own part interest in a tree-growing company, but the $84 came from an oil and gas company and we should have reported it as such.)
If you're Kerry, do you sit there and say "You're kidding?" Factcheck has been all about sniffing the distortions out of campaigns and encouraging the public and the press to come to them for the truth. So when one does, they screw it up. Why would any person running for office use them again? Further, when you try to bring up this episode in a discussion, you have the other side immediately jump in and say, "yeah, well we all can see just how "fair" they are..."
Good going Factcheck. I wonder where on their correction did it list the pressure they got from the BC campaign to check its records?
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We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
So people working for the Kerry campaign took that to heart, assuming that factcheck did its homework when it came up with that line that the President classified as a small business when he received $84 from a timber-growing company in 2001. In fact, here is what their analysis said:
President Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business owner" under the Republican definition, based on his 2001 federal income tax returns. He reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise. However, 99.99% of Bush's total income came from other sources that year. (Bush also qualified as a "small business owner" in 2000 based on $314 of "business income," but not in 2002 and 2003 when he reported his timber income as "royalties" on a different tax schedule.)
So John Kerry goes into the second debate and says this:
And you know why he gets that count? The president got $84 from a timber company that owns, and he's counted as a small business. Dick Cheney's counted as a small business. That's how they do things. That's just not right.
To which the President starts twitching, and then launches into this series of zingers:
BUSH: I own a timber company?
(LAUGHTER)
That's news to me.
(LAUGHTER)
Need some wood?
(LAUGHTER)
Now, after Factcheck gets an overflow of visits to their site, they admit that their first report may not be accurate. Here is the correction:
(Oct 9; CORRECTION: What we originally reported as a "timber-growing" enterprise is actually described on Bush's tax return as an "oil and gas production" concern, the Lone Star Trust. We were confused because The Lone Star Trust currently owns 50% of another company, "LSTF, LLC", described on Bush’s 2003 financial disclosure forms as a limited-liability company organized "for the purpose of the production of trees for commercial sales." So, Bush does own part interest in a tree-growing company, but the $84 came from an oil and gas company and we should have reported it as such.)
If you're Kerry, do you sit there and say "You're kidding?" Factcheck has been all about sniffing the distortions out of campaigns and encouraging the public and the press to come to them for the truth. So when one does, they screw it up. Why would any person running for office use them again? Further, when you try to bring up this episode in a discussion, you have the other side immediately jump in and say, "yeah, well we all can see just how "fair" they are..."
Good going Factcheck. I wonder where on their correction did it list the pressure they got from the BC campaign to check its records?
