Study finds Republicans lie more than Democrats

[rubecube]

Fox News could not be reached for comment.

http://www.politicususa.com/sides-it...democrats.html

A new study from the nonpartisan Center For Media Affairs has concluded that since the beginning of President Obama’s second term, Republicans have lied three times more often than Democrats.

The Center For Media Affairs (CFMA) at George Mason University found that PolitiFact rated Republican claims as false three times more often than Democratic claims. Not only do Republicans lie more often, but Democrats are more truthful. By a 2 to 1 margin (22%-11%) PolitiFact rated Democratic statements as completely true. The CFMA also found that, “A majority of Democratic statements (54%) were rated as mostly or entirely true, compared to only 18% of Republican statements.

Conversely, a majority of Republican statements (52%) were rated as mostly or entirely false, compared to only 24% of Democratic statements. Despite controversies over Obama administration statements regarding Benghazi, the IRS and the Associated Press, Republicans have continued to fare worse than Democrats, with 60% of their claims rated as false so far this month (May 1 – May 22), compared to 29% of Democratic statements – a 2 to 1 margin.”

[Rathji]

The fact that 24% of Democract statements are mostly or entirely false is still pretty bad.

Goes to show that no matter who you elect, still going to get people lying.

[V]

Study loses all credibility at:

By a 2 to 1 margin (22%-11%) PolitiFact rated Democratic statements as completely true.

There is not a damn thing that comes out of a politician's mouth that could be rated as completely true.

[octothorp]

What if Democrats are simply better at lying?

[Free Ben Hur!]

Counterpoint

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/...st-republicans

[PIMking]

lol if their mouth is moving, they aint telling the truth

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

Counterpoint

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/...st-republicans

"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by V

....There is not a damn thing that comes out of a politician's mouth that could be rated as completely true.

If you're saying (as I infer you are) that everything a politician says is a lie, that's absurd. If you're saying that every politician sometimes lies, I'd ask you if that's isn't true of all people. The quoted part above seems to be the former inference, which is ridiculous. You must have a pretty low opinion of all politicians.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

If you're saying (as I infer you are) that everything a politician says is a lie, that's absurd. If you're saying that every politician sometimes lies, I'd ask you if that's isn't true of all people. The quoted part above seems to be the former inference, which is ridiculous. You must have a pretty low opinion of all politicians.

Polls would suggest the overwhelming majority have a pretty low opinion of politicians as a topic.

Ask them about their local politician, however, and the answer is often different.

Cowperson

[V]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

If you're saying (as I infer you are) that everything a politician says is a lie, that's absurd. If you're saying that every politician sometimes lies, I'd ask you if that's isn't true of all people. The quoted part above seems to be the former inference, which is ridiculous. You must have a pretty low opinion of all politicians.

I'm saying that politicians are incapable of being completely honest at any time.

But I'd also say that that's pretty much mandatory for anyone that has to interact with the idiocy that is our general population.

[Red Slinger]

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Republicans generally espouse principles like being self-made, open competition, being the best, ends justifying the means, encouraging success and punishing failure. This often may lead to a mantra of doing whatever it takes to win, which could include little ethical ticks like lying, stepping on the throats of others to get to the top and being a little more self-serving than the average person.

Most of the really successful Democrats have learned many of these skills from their Republican brethren.

[Red Ice Player]

Well the leader of the Republican party is Rush Limbaugh, so its not surprising.

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

Well the leader of the Republican party is Rush Limbaugh, so its not surprising.

His M J Fox comments still make me laugh

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Republicans generally espouse principles like being self-made, open competition, being the best, ends justifying the means, encouraging success and punishing failure. This often may lead to a mantra of doing whatever it takes to win, which could include little ethical ticks like lying, stepping on the throats of others to get to the top and being a little more self-serving than the average person.

Most of the really successful Democrats have learned many of these skills from their Republican brethren.

You can't be serious about this.

[Red Slinger]

^ Well, partly serious.

Democrat politicians are just as scummy as Republican politicians, but the Republicans are historically better at it.

Looking at the modern history of US presidents is somewhat telling. You had Lyndon Johnson finishing Kennedy's term and then winning re-election (sort of). Up until Clinton he was the last Democratic President to get a second term and it could be argued that it was really Kennedy's second term and Johnson won at least partially out of national mourning for Kennedy. Then you had Nixon winning a second term before resigning. Carter ended up being a one-term president before the Reagan administration basically had a 12 year run (Reagan, Bush Sr.). When Clinton came along he was the first Democratic Presidential candidate that basically out Republican'd the Republicans.

Between Johnson and Clinton the Republicans won 5 of the 6 Presidential elections. Before Clinton and after Clinton Democrats have been (rightly IMO) accused of being wusses and pansies in federal politics. The Republicans ran roughshod over them. In particular the neo-Cons that rose during the Reagan administration and eventually turned into Karl Rove, Rumsfeld, Bush Jr. etc were very good at playing dirty and doing almost whatever was necessary to win. Clinton beat them at their own game which is something the Democrats struggled to do for decades. Obama is also able to get down and dirty although it seems like it's not natural for him to do so.

TLDR- Politicians lie. That isn't a surprise. The Republicans seem to do it more and more effectively. The successful Democrats seem to do it as well as the Republicans.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Interesting.

This same poll also showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that water is wet.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

Counterpoint

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/...st-republicans

That was a funny editorial. It reasons that because a study found that fact-checkers rate Republicans as less honest than Democrats, then fact-checkers must be biased against Republicans.

It was only at the end that I realized the author was actually serious! The age of doublethink is upon us, I guess. The American editorial-page braintrust has really fallen on hard times.

But I guess since the linked editorial claims that the study "empirically demonstrate(s) the liberal, pro-Democrat bias in the Washington press corps," here's a link to the CMPA's press release, which reveals that in fact the authors of this study made no such claim.
http://www.cmpa.com/media_room_press_05_28_13.html

If this Peter Roff fellow is bridling at the suggestion that Republicans lie more, he ought to try a little intellectual honesty of his own. Claiming that a study supports his thesis when it decidedly does not isn't a good start.

With that said, there are obvious issues with fact-checkers, the key one being oversight. Any person can call themselves a fact-checker, and they of course "fact-check" their own selection of statements made by politicians. One possible source of bias is that they may be more inclined to look into misleading statements if they disagree with the speaker's underlying politics.

It follows that any study that uses fact-checkers as a barometer for the "aggregate honesty" of political parties should be taken with a grain of salt.

Consider this: if Politifact uses mostly statements by Barack Obama as exemplars for "democratic statements," and mostly statements by Michele Bachman as exemplars of "republican statements," it would likely appear as a result that Republicans lie way more. In fact, all it would show is that Michele Bachman lies more than Barack Obama, which should surprise no-one with a brain.

[Mightyfire89]

Truly shocking.