Fact-checking is back and as unreliable as ever as the midterms approach, with a particularly egregious example taking place in Florida.
DSA candidate Angie Nixon is using the momentum of her shocking primary win to go on a media blitz and establish name recognition. While this is a solid political strategy, she also seems to be receiving a boost from the likes of PolitiFact.
Mediaite columnist Brad Slager pointed out the thinly veiled assist in a Monday piece, pointing out that Nixon has held “several positions” in the past, including beginning the race as a “straightforward Democrat” before making a “hard Left turn.”
“In June, Nixon announced that she was positioning herself as a Democratic Socialist candidate, hoping to tap into the populist wave that movement has been experiencing. Her Democrat foe in the primary was Alexander Vindman, and he called out Nixon for being a socialist and communist in Florida. You will not find Vindman being corrected over those comments on the site, as he had been the favored candidate at the time,” Slager noted.
This is important because PolitiFact did attempt to correct Nixon’s Republican opponent, Ashley Moody, the interim occupant of the seat both are vying for, on that particular issue.
From Slager’s piece:
In one post-election interview, Nixon was literally verbally tap dancing on the fence line. When asked directly about her DSA bona fides, she answered, “I just recently joined DSA,” but then when pressed about the agenda of that sector of the party she replied, “I don’t fully align with anybody’s full platform 100%.” She wants the credit and adulation, but not the responsibility.
ADVERTISEMENTBut when faced with a candidate who is taking up a number of positions, PolitiFact steps in and decides to do its work – at discrediting her opponent, for noting these details. The site deployed Maria Briceno and Samantha Putterman to address recent comments made by Ashley Moody about Nixon.
What were these comments that needed policing? After officially securing the Republican nomination, Moody pointed out some things about Nixon.
“My opponent will be a self-proclaimed socialist that proudly signed up and joined the Democratic Socialists of America. That will be my opponent. … You’re going to have one side that I’m going to be up against that wants to, and the platform says, ‘Defund the police, don’t fund our military, open up the border, noncitizen voting,’” Moody said.
“The DSA has specific policy goals, but there is no set of beliefs that members must follow,” PolitiFact explains. “Nixon has said publicly she does not support defunding the police, but she does promote criminal justice reform.”
“Nixon said she doesn’t support abolishing all prisons, but wants to end for-profit prisons because of the industry’s labor exploitation and financial incentive to keep the prisons full,” the outlet continues.
Slager says this is essentially an article punishing Moody for “being accurate” and shielding Nixon from her own unclear policy platform.
“The bulk of this entry is laying out Nixon’s policy proposals (A check under Moody’s name on PolitiFact did not produce an entry itemizing her policies.) It appears that what is attempted here is to say that Nixon holding multiple positions is not the problem but noting her doing so is the issue. You see what is in play, as the start of the entry suggests how Moody is wrong for her comments, yet the site would not go as far as assigning any ‘False’ measurement to her words,” he writes. “So, they give Nixon credit for aligning with the DSA, but she can be exempted from those DSA agenda items that may hurt her chances in Florida. It appears that Moody’s claims about her opponent are disproved by Nixon’s waffling. It used to be that was a handicap in a candidate’s campaign. Now it is cause to say others are wrong for noticing.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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