A piece in the Politico (10/16/08) wonders whether media fact-checking is actually useful. While of course bad fact-checking—of which there are examples aplenty—is a problem, Politico gets a McCain aide to complain about the whole enterprise:
“In 2004, Factcheck.org was considered [the] authority,” said a senior McCain aide, who was provided by the campaign to speak about fact-checking on a not-for-attribution basis. He said he would “love to see it get back” to “fewer” fact-checking arms.
“It’s reaching a level of ridiculousness that demands some re-consideration of the role fact-checking should play,” the aide said.
When FAIR has examined Factcheck.org’s fact-checking (Extra!, 11–12/05, 9–10/07), we’ve found them to use blatant double standards, holding progressive arguments to absurdly exact standards while excusing Republican misinformation. So it’s little wonder that McCain’s camp would want them to have a monopoly on the fact-checking business.
