Summary

The website article provides an analysis of the truthfulness of statements made by candidates in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, as rated by Politifact.

Abstract

The article, titled "The Biggest Liar: Presidential Election Edition," offers a critical examination of the veracity of statements made by various candidates in the 2016 U.S. Presidential race. It uses data from Politifact to assign each candidate a score based on the percentage of their statements deemed "false" or "pants on fire" (F score) versus those rated "true" or "mostly true" (T score). The article suggests a conservative bias in Politifact's evaluations and notes that despite this, only four candidates—Kasich, Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton—have achieved a 50% Truth score. It also criticizes Politifact's arbitrary judgment and questions the methodology behind their ratings, prompting the creation of a separate appendix for further analysis. The article concludes by highlighting the relatively low lie percentages of elected presidents compared to other candidates.

Opinions

The author implies that Donald Trump's high percentage of false statements is noteworthy, even if it's not the focus of the article.
There is a perceived conservative bias in Politifact's selection of "lies of the year."
Hillary Clinton's low false statement percentage is highlighted, with a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for conservatives to insert their own jokes.
Bernie Sanders is noted for not having told a "pants on fire" lie, with a humorous suggestion that his limited wardrobe might be a factor.
Ted Cruz's lie percentage is considered disappointing given his profession as a lawyer.
Ben Carson's very high false statement percentage is mentioned with sarcasm, suggesting he should not be counted out.
Marco Rubio's campaign strategy is questioned due to his high truth score.
John Kasich is encouraged to get more speaking time to improve his standing.
Jeb Bush's near-miss of a 50% truth score is lamented.
Politifact's "half true" rating is criticized for being arbitrary and unreasonable.
The article suggests that Politifact may suffer from "Obama Derangement Syndrome Effect," affecting their ratings of President Obama.
The two elected presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, are noted for telling the least lies according to Politifact.
George W. Bush is mentioned in an external link as having told a significant number of lies, despite not being rated by Politifact.
The article ends with a satirical tone, inviting readers to enjoy the political spectacle and recommending other satirical pieces on civics and the economy.

The Biggest Liar

Presidential Election Edition

Hey, Folks! Follow your favorite liars all the way through the election!

Update: We just had another Republican debate and the accusations were flying. Over the next few days, we’ll find out how many of them are lies.

Here’s a handy guide to track the lies told by the current crop of candidates as supplied by Politifact. They have a slight conservative bias — compare their “lies of the year” over the last few years and you’ll see why — but they do a lot of legwork. As a baseline, I have also supplied past presidential winners.

I assigned two scores:

F = total lie percentage, combining all statements rated as “mostly false”, “false”, “pants on fire.”

T = percentage of “true” and “mostly true” statements

Current Candidates

Trump: 71% F, 14% T (Holy crap, this guy really is the best at something!)

Clinton: 29% F, 50% T (The only lie ratings smaller than Hillary are those by Presidents Obama and Clinton; conservatives, insert joke here)

The Bern

Sanders: 27% F, 52% T (the only candidate not to tell a pants on fire lie; maybe it’s because he only owns two suits)

The Fallen

Cruz: 65% F, 22% T (You can do better, Ted, you’re a lawyer for heaven’s sake.)

Carson: 83% F, 2% T (a real contender, don’t count this guy out!)

Rubio: 41% F, 36% T (Doesn’t seem to understand how to campaign; those truth scores are unacceptably high)

Kasich: 32% F, 53% T (he needs to get a lot more speaking time at the debates to catch up)

Jeb?: 31% F, 48% T

Fiorina: 54% F, 28% T

Christie: 35% F, 39% T

Santorum: 55% F, 22% T

Paul: 36% F, 46% T

Huckabee: 51% F, 27% T

Graham: 34% F, 34% T

Walker: 47% F, 35% T

Perry: 49% F, 29% T

Gilmore, Pataki, Jindal, Jim Webb, Martin O’Malley: insufficient sample size

Presidents, current and past

Obama: 26% F, 47% T

Obama promises kept (here’s a shocker!)

Bill Clinton: 24% F, 50% T

George W. Bush: (insufficient sample size, with only four total statements evaluated — all after he left office )

Conclusions

Only four people reached a score of 50% Truth: Kasich, Sanders, Hillary and Bill (wow!) Obama is probably over 50%, but Politifact seems to be suffering from a touch of Obama Derangement Syndrom Effect. They have a rating “half true”. If someone says something that is true for 97% of the population, how on earth does that qualify as “The Lie of the Year?” Because their judgments are so arbitrary and unreasonable, I had to create a separate appendix to examine their ratings.

Jeb only missed by 2% (Jeb? Jeb!)

Rand Paul came in a 46% (was it the hair?)

The two elected presidents told the least lies (according to politifact)

The third president, though not rated by Politifact, told the most.

Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!

For more science-based fun, try:

A Venn Diagram of the American Dream

A Flowchart guide to national media prominence

Graphs that examine Millenial angst

Thanks for reading this far. If you found value in this, please recommend this post (❤) so your followers will be put through the same annoying civics lesson that you just suffered through.