“The web site’s definition of “Half-True” is: “The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.” Walker’s truthful statement merely repeating what BLS reported and AP relayed was made in a political speech, not an economic dissertation.
Following the illogic of PolitiFact evaluator Louis Jacobson, Walker would not (repeat: not) have improved his performance even if he had added the word “reported” (“Last month, 44 of the 50 states saw an increase in the reported unemployment rate”), because he still didn’t address “statistical significance,” and didn’t tell us how great things were a year ago (as if that matters in a statement about one month’s results).
I’ll end this with a quote from Charlie Sykes at WTMJ in Milwaukee at his post entitled “Politifact Beclowns Itself. Again”: “The Moral of the Story seems to be: What’s TRUE for the media (and, as seen above, the government — Ed.), becomes HALF TRUE when uttered by a Republican politician.”
Exit question: Does the “O” in Truth-O-Meter stand for “Obama”?”
