Politifact is to be about as trusted as an anonymous Twitter user with no photo and five followers when it comes to claims about what is and isn’t factual in any given situation. It’s proven time and again that its out-of-control bias leans so far to the left that it sometimes falls over and embarrassed itself.
It just did so again, but this time it tried to step into the ring with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Texas law. Highly unwise. Old women would have better luck in an actual ring with Ali in his prime.
But Politifact knew that when it comes to debating Texas law with Cruz it was a losing battle, so it did what it always does when it needs to drive a narrative; it manipulated the story by focusing on an irrelevant piece of information.
Still, it didn’t help them and Cruz ended up getting the last laugh.
It started when Cruz told USA Today reporter Savannah Behrmann that there was “clear legal authority to handcuff and put in leg irons legislators that are trying to stop the legislature from being able to do business.” This was in reference to the Democrat Party House members that fled the state of Texas for D.C. in order to prevent the passage of voting safety legislation in favor of passing the Democrat Party’s “For the People Act,” which effectively strips the ability of a state to secure and monitor its own elections.
(READ: The “For the People Act” Is a Democrat Power Grab, Not a Fight for Freedom)
In an effort to make it seem like Cruz — the state’s former Solicitor General — didn’t know what he was talking about when it came to arresting these heroic Democrats fleeing the state to prevent the people’s business from being done, they rated the statement “False” and tweeted out “False. There is no legal clarity.”
If you’re a casual internet user, you would see this tweet and think Cruz and those dastardly Republicans are, once again, blowing smoke and throwing tantrums, seeking punishments for people who don’t deserve them. It will probably even get a hefty amount of retweets, spreading the narrative that there isn’t actually any legal ground for the Texas Democrats to be arrested.
The problem with this is that the Texas constitution makes it clear that Cruz was correct in Article 3, Section 10:
Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.
If you click on PolitiFact’s article on the matter, you can even see that they know this too and admit that, in fact, Cruz is correct on the entire matter.
So how did they rate Cruz’s statement as false? Easy. Politifact pulled a Politifact and focused on a single word that Cruz used in order to rate his statement as wholly false. They zeroed in on the word “clear”:
“The Texas House Rules states that absent lawmakers can “be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found,” PolitiFact wrote. “But, because absent lawmakers aren’t charged with a crime, it’s unclear how the use of the word “arrest” should be interpreted in this context. This is because no Texas court has reviewed how this provision is to be enforced. Thus, there is no legal clarity.”
But there is. The Texas Supreme Court even made that clear when it overturned a lower court ruling that prevented the arrest of the AWOL Democrats. State law enforcement officials have even been deputized to carry out these arrests. The entire thing is in stone. So not only did Politifact try to pull a fast one to set a false narrative, it didn’t even get the premise for its manipulative language right.
By the way, despite this all happening last week, PolitiFact still has Cruz’s quote rated as “False,” further adding to PolitiFact’s own falseness. Cruz pointed this out himself as well.
PolitiFact clearly has a bias and it uses its reputation as a “fact-finding” entity to manipulate the populace into believing untrue things about any given situation. If the Democrat Party needs something to be false, they will find a way to it so, even if it means taking a single word and using it to create an entire story out of it.
It’s shady, it’s dirty, it’s underhanded…it’s PolitiFact.
The preceding story was brought to you courtesy of The Red State. Click the link to visit their page and read more stories.
