This latest edition of "Stupid Fact Checks" by Hillary Clinton lapdogs in the press comes from NBC, with follow-up help from the Politico, and is an entry in two categories: "False Equivalency" and "Subsequent Goalpost Moving."
In Sunday's second presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump correctly stated that Mrs. Clinton "was there as Secretary of State with the so-called line in the sand." Mrs. Clinton said, "No I wasn't." But she was there when President Barack Obama made his statement threatening action if Syria were to use chemical weapons. NBC's "fact-check" evaluation: "Everyone Is Wrong Here." That's because Trump forgot to describe Obama's "line" as "red." Seriously. An NBC reporter also worked after the fact to cover up her own mistake over Mrs. Clinton's indisputably obvious error.
This portion of the debate represented one of those rare instances when Mrs. Clinton, instead of delegating the task of "fact checking" to her legions of friends in the media, felt confident enough to think for herself and catch Trump on stage in what she thought was an error.
Boy, did she blow it. Here's the exchange:
Trump: First of all, she was there as Secretary of State with the so-called line in the sand.
Clinton: No I wasn't, I was gone. I hate to interrupt you. At some point we need to get the facts out.
The "outed" fact is that Mrs. Clinton was still in office in August 2012 when President Barack Obama made his "red line" statement, and did not leave the government until February 1, 2013.
Trump, perhaps surprised by Mrs. Clinton's false comeback, but also thinking that Mrs. Clinton couldn't possibly be having such a serious memory lapse over something so basic, next said the following — clearly still referring to August 2012, when Obama made his statement:
TRUMP: You were still in contact with the White House. And perhaps sadly, Obama probably still listened to you. I don't think he would listen to you very much anymore. Obama draws the line in the sand. It was laughed at all over the world what happened.
Clearly, Trump didn't have to qualify his remark (but couldn't have known that for certain after Mrs. Clinton's comeback). The key point is that he stuck with his reference to when Obama made his statement regarding Syria's potential use of chemical weapons.
Here's NBC's tweeted "fact check" (red lines, excuse the coincidence, are mine):
NBC admits that Trump was referring to August 2012, when Obama's "red line" statement was made, but still treated his failure to mention the word "red" and adding "in the sand" as just as wrong as Mrs. Clinton's failure to remember whether or not she was Secretary of State at the time.
Subsequently, one NBC reporter has moved the goal posts, with the help of an utterly dishonest "Wrongometer" post by the Politico's Isaac Arnsdorf:
As demonstrated, and as NBC agreed, Trump was referring to August 2012, not when Syria "crossed the red line." The Politico's Arnsdorf pulled a "Baghdad Bob" in claiming that Trump was somehow wrong.
NBC's Katy Tur, who readers will see originally tweeted Mrs. Clinton's false claim as if it were an established fact with no apparent attempt at verification — note the timing, almost immediately after the debate exchange took place, and that there is no link to NBC's absurd "Everyone is Wrong" tweet) — used the bogus post by the Politico's Arnsdorf to move the goalposts (HT Twitchy):
Now we understand what Mrs. Clinton, while admitting before the entire nation during the first two presidential debates that she doesn't possess the intellectual agility to engage Donald Trump in an argument over the facts, really means when she implores her minions to fact check Mr. Trump: "Please help me do what I can't do, and make every effort to make his statements seem false, even when they're true." Your bogus fact-checkers aren't running for President, ma'am. You are.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
