White’s interesting ‘fact check’ choice

Bill White has chosen a better source to take material for his column of 11/7/2023, but he seriously undermines a “fact check” column with his mischaracterization of “other subjects with incorrect information” at the end of his column. Quoting from https://www.cnn. com/2023/01/28/politics/fact-check-bideneconomic-speech-january-2023/index.html :

House Republicans and the deficit

Biden said he was disappointed that the first bill passed by the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives “added $114 billion to the deficit.”

Facts First: Biden is correct about how the bill would affect the deficit if it became law. He accurately cited an estimate from the government’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

House Republicans and taxes

Biden said that “MAGA Republicans” in the House “want to impose a 30 percent national sales tax on everything from food, clothing, school supplies, housing, cars – a whole deal.” He said they want to do that because “they want to eliminate the income tax system.”

Facts First: This is a fair description of the Republicans’ “Fairtax” bill. The bill would eliminate federal income taxes, plus the payroll tax, capital gains tax and estate tax, and replace it with a national sales tax.

The unemployment rate

Biden claimed the unemployment rate “is the lowest it’s been in 50 years.”

Facts First: This is true. The unemployment rate was just below 3.5 percent in December, the lowest figure since 1969.

I just don’t think Columnist White is being very factual in his “fact check” style of column.

Even when Biden says things that are untrue, the White House Press Office issues corrections. There were so very many times in the prior Administration when they just ignored untrue statements as though they never happened. The polling favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination created a business organization that was ruled fraudulent in court, was found civilly liable for the defamation of a woman he sexually assaulted, and blithers inanities almost daily. Ignoring this, White chooses to rehash a CNN fact check from nine months ago, and rehashes it badly.

That’s an interesting choice.

Len Andrews

Porterville