PolitiFact, the ostensible “fact-checking” website, is again facing accusations that it’s nothing more than a propagandist for the Democrat Party.
The latest round of accusations comes following PolitiFact’s publication of a “fact-check” accusing Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of lying.
In a tweet posted over the weekend, Carr slammed Democrat Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams for trash-talking Georgia.
“Just like when she supported the #MLB boycott, Stacey Abrams’ reckless & condescending comments continue to harm the state she claims to want to govern. #gapol,” he wrote.
Our state’s No.1 ranking for business has transformed hundreds of thousands of Georgians’ lives.
Just like when she supported the #MLB boycott, Stacey Abrams’ reckless & condescending comments continue to harm the state she claims to want to govern.#gapol https://t.co/F1D0pfizn5
— Chris Carr (@ChrisCarr_Ga) May 23, 2022
PolitiFact took issue with the part about Abrams having “supported the #MLB boycott.”
Recall that last year, Democrats pressured Major League Baseball to boycott Georgia after the state signed into law a bill mandating voter IDs at the polling booth.
The facts make it clear that Abrams had played a major role in this pressure campaign. Yet according to PolitiFact, that never happened.
“Carr said that Abrams ‘supported the MLB boycott.’ Both before and after the league’s boycott, Abrams threw cold water on the idea, saying in a Twitter video, ‘To our friends across the country please do not boycott us,'” its “fact-check” reads.
“She echoed those comments to the leading newspaper in Atlanta and in an op-ed in USA Today. She also personally lobbied Major League Baseball not to take that step before the boycott was announced. We rate the statement False.”
My latest @PolitiFact: No, Stacey Abrams didn’t support the baseball All-Star game boycott of Atlanta, despite what a leading Georgia Republican said.https://t.co/KdJoerRA6x pic.twitter.com/PUxBoD8n1K
— Louis Jacobson (@loujacobson) May 24, 2022
Fact-check: FALSE.
Missing from PolitiFact’s “fact-check” are a number of highly relevant facts.
For instance, the USA Today op-ed that Abrams wrote and that was originally published in March of 2021 was later heavily edited as backlash against the MLB’s boycott, which was poised to destroy jobs and hurt Georgia’s economy, began to grow.
“Boycotts work. …. The impassioned response to the racist, classist bill that is now the law of Georgia is to boycott in order to achieve change. Events hosted by major league baseball, world class soccer, college sports and dozens of Hollywood films hang in the balance,” the original op-ed read.
“At the same time, activists urge Georgians to swear off of hometown products to express our outrage. Until we hear clear, unequivocal statements that show Georgia-based companies get what’s at stake, I can’t argue with an individual’s choice to opt for their competition.”
Much of this paragraph was later removed from the piece after the MLB announced its decision to boycott Georgia by relocating its All-Star game from Atlanta, Georgia, to Denver, Colorado.
Incidentally, USA Today edited the piece exactly as Democrats began scrambling “to dodge the fallout” from the MLB’s boycott.
“Democrats scrambled Tuesday to dodge the fallout from Major League Baseball’s decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta as Republicans stepped up to the plate, blaming an overheated ‘Jim Crow’ narrative for stoking an over-the-top corporate backlash against Georgia,” as reported at the time by The Washington Times.
Abrams was among those who suddenly decided to change her tune. However, there’s little doubt that her original tune had been decisively pro-boycott.
“There were businesses that were silent in the election for whatever reason. But there should be no silence from the business community when anyone in power is trying to strip away the right to vote from the people. There should be a hue and cry,” she reportedly said in early March of 2021.
It is critical the business community stand up for our democracy and denounce ongoing efforts to roll back the clock on voting rights.
We must utilize our platforms now to speak up for those who are at risk of being silenced. #gapol https://t.co/BlQycpVYZ5
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) March 10, 2021
Then when MLB announced its decision to relocate its All-Star Game a couple of weeks later, she praised the decision, saying she was “proud of their stance on voting rights,” as reported by Fox News.
Not until Republicans began fighting back by highlighting to the public how damaging the boycott would be to Georgia did Abrams and her fellow Democrats suddenly turn against the boycott.
Of course, none of this is mentioned in PolitiFact’s ostensible “fact-check.” And that’s why, critics say, PolitiFact is nothing but a “propagandist” for the Democrat Party.
Good little propagandist
— Seth Lowe (@SethBLowe) May 26, 2022
You are a lying propagandist.But that comes as no surprise seeing as you work for the b.s. politifact opinion police.
— BB Whittington🌟🌟🌟 (@Outlawcajun1) May 26, 2022
She absolutely did and you guys are propagandist clowns, no one takes you seriously
— j w barkman (@susanna24172839) May 26, 2022
But she was the direct cause of it. She only changed course slightly when she realized her stance was hurting her.
— Mark (@UncoverFacts) May 25, 2022
Like hell she didn’t! She totally pushed the idea & then started walking it back after realizing how bad it looked but it was too late.
— 🦢G̷I̷N̷G̷E̷R̷ ̷ᗷᗩᛕᗴᖇ (@UltraBohoTheory) May 26, 2022
Did you even do a google search before you and your editor thought it was a good idea to publish this?
lol
— Devildog Dave (@SaynotoFOD) May 25, 2022
Yikes! Short term memory. Facts matter. Ample evidence out there, no matter how you choose to twist it, and she changed her mind after it was too late.
— Jackie (@jackiecorine) May 25, 2022
I saw her do what you claim she did not do in real time.
You are not a reporter.
You are a propagandist for your tribe.
— Geohydro98 (@geohydro98) May 26, 2022
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