MRC UnCensored: How PolitiFact Coddles ‘Fibber-in-Chief' Biden

April 15th, 2024 3:20 PM

NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham exposed the insane leftist bias of the leftist Facebook fact-checker PolitiFact in a new study released April 9. 

During the April 12 episode of MRC’s UnCensored, Graham told MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider that this “fact-checker” applies wildly different standards to Democrats and Republicans, but especially to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. Schneider and Graham made clear that PolitiFact goes all out to protect Biden, whom Schneider called the “Fibber-in-Chief,” from the fallout of his “notorious lies.”  PolitiFact is housed within the George Soros-tied Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which the leftist billionaire gave at least $492,000 toward its dystopian International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). 

On April 9, Marshall published his findings on PolitiFact’s rampant bias, showing that a whopping 75% of Republican statements fact-checked by PolitiFact received a rating of “mostly false,” “false,” or “pants-on-fire,” between the beginning of this year and March 31. Marshall’s research showed that only 26% of statements by Democrats were labeled this way by PolitiFact during the same period. 

Graham pointed to a recent Biden lie to illustrate the utter extent of PolitiFact’s leftist bent. “When Joe Biden says, ‘This bridge that collapsed in Baltimore, I’ve gone over many times, in a car and on a train’ and there are no train tracks on this bridge, now couldn’t we say that’s a pants-on-fire lie,” Graham asked. As noted by Graham, PolitiFact did not provide a rating of any kind to their story on Biden’s impossible train ride.

He analyzed that PolitiFact consistently treated Biden as a charming old storyteller who embellishes a bit, while Trump was treated as a threat who lies for evil reasons. Graham added,  “Now on some level, I think what they’re trying to do here is assign a prize for evil intent. So if Biden says something silly which might suggest infirmity, well that can’t be pants-on-fire, he didn’t lie on purpose, he’s just Grandpa Joe, he says these things that are amusing.” 

Schneider also panned PolitiFact’s behavior: “PolitiFact is using its tools to cover up the Biden indiscretion.” 

But there’s more. Graham provided striking context on how PolitiFact systemically protects Biden and other Democrats like its a chronic obsession. 

Graham pointed out that although “Joe Biden has been a politician for the entire timespan of PolitiFact,” the number of Biden PolitiFact entries is still in the “300’s.” Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and made headlines for falsehoods told during one of his presidential campaigns. By contrast, Trump, who had not held political office before his presidential run, was “the most fact-checked individual” on PolitiFact and had over a thousand entries. 

Graham then compared PolitiFact’s “pants-on-fire” entries for Biden and Trump. PolitiFact had labeled Trump's statements this way 187 times according to Graham, while only giving a paltry seven Biden statements the same label. Graham further elaborated that PolitiFact had only dinged Biden with a “pants-on-fire” label — count it — once since he became president. 

Conservatives are under attack! Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency on WEF partnerships, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.