I'm all about fact-checking. I have angered many people in the past when they've laid down a claim I knew to be false, fact-checked said claim, and proved to their dismay that they were wrong. Yet even I will say sometimes, not often, but sometimes we fact-check just a little too much.
Now, I have to imagine like just about everyone else, professional fact-checkers can often times get bored at work. Perhaps it's a non-election year and most politicians seem to be enjoying a vacation of sorts (what else is new, right?), and there really isn't a great deal of interesting quotes or claims to fact-check, so they have to lower their standards a bit and fact-check what really doesn't need to be fact-checked.
The latest example of this is courtesy of Politifact, who fact-checked Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on his claim that Scooby-Doo was his favorite show when he was 4-years old. Yes, Politifact actually fact-checked this.
In the site's ruling, it says:
"Christie told a 4-year old fan of Scooby-Doo at a recent town hall meeting, 'When I was 4, my favorite show was Scooby-Doo, too.'
The governor couldn't have been 4 and been watching 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' since it didn't begin airing until 1969 and hew as born in 1962. That means he would have been 7 years old if he watched the premiere episode of the Hanna-Barbera classic..."
Seriously? What, does Politifact really think Christie's trying to earn the vote of a 4-year old by lying to him? Last I checked, this kid has a few years yet before he can legally vote.
Let's get something straight here - I'm close to 20 years younger than Christie and I can't even remember what my favorite shows were at specific ages, especially those of 25+ years ago. While Christie may have been factually inaccurate with his claim, I highly doubt the guy intentionally lied about it. While I have absolutely no problem with fact-checkers fact-checking Christie when it comes to most of his other statements, I think it's utterly pointless to fact-check whether or not he could have possibly watched Scooby-Doo when he was 4-years old. We're in the midst of an odd trend in the world of politics as far as "-gates" are concerned. We had Watergate, then Lewinskygate, and now Scoobygate. What's next? Napkingate?
http://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/article/2013/apr/21/chris-christie-claims-scooby-doo-was-his-favorite-/
Now, I have to imagine like just about everyone else, professional fact-checkers can often times get bored at work. Perhaps it's a non-election year and most politicians seem to be enjoying a vacation of sorts (what else is new, right?), and there really isn't a great deal of interesting quotes or claims to fact-check, so they have to lower their standards a bit and fact-check what really doesn't need to be fact-checked.
The latest example of this is courtesy of Politifact, who fact-checked Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on his claim that Scooby-Doo was his favorite show when he was 4-years old. Yes, Politifact actually fact-checked this.
In the site's ruling, it says:
"Christie told a 4-year old fan of Scooby-Doo at a recent town hall meeting, 'When I was 4, my favorite show was Scooby-Doo, too.'
The governor couldn't have been 4 and been watching 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' since it didn't begin airing until 1969 and hew as born in 1962. That means he would have been 7 years old if he watched the premiere episode of the Hanna-Barbera classic..."
Seriously? What, does Politifact really think Christie's trying to earn the vote of a 4-year old by lying to him? Last I checked, this kid has a few years yet before he can legally vote.
Let's get something straight here - I'm close to 20 years younger than Christie and I can't even remember what my favorite shows were at specific ages, especially those of 25+ years ago. While Christie may have been factually inaccurate with his claim, I highly doubt the guy intentionally lied about it. While I have absolutely no problem with fact-checkers fact-checking Christie when it comes to most of his other statements, I think it's utterly pointless to fact-check whether or not he could have possibly watched Scooby-Doo when he was 4-years old. We're in the midst of an odd trend in the world of politics as far as "-gates" are concerned. We had Watergate, then Lewinskygate, and now Scoobygate. What's next? Napkingate?
http://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/article/2013/apr/21/chris-christie-claims-scooby-doo-was-his-favorite-/
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