Politifact.com doesn’t just take on the politicians, it also puts its Truth-O-Meter into action to determine the truthfulness of the widely followed pundits out there.
A check of the Truth-O-Meter’s findings over the past few years shows that those on the left who have the most trouble with the facts are MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and HBO’s Bill Maher. Maddow and Maher have received numerous “not true” ratings for things they’ve said on their respective shows.
For example, Maher, trying to prove the need for federal investment in an outdated U.S. infrastructure, said that wooden pipes were still being used to transmit natural gas. Politifact found that nearly all the gas pipelines in the nation are made of steel or specially manufactured plastic.
The heyday of wood pipes for gas companies was roughly the 1820s.
On the right, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (yes, he’s still out there, in cyberspace) were the two commentators who have the most trouble sticking to the facts. But Limbaugh and Beck are essentially in a category all their own because they routinely earn Politifact’s “Pants on Fire” designation for outright lies.
An example: Limbaugh claimed last year on his radio show that, thanks to an oppressive regime in the White House, “fishing is on the verge becoming a privilege controlled by Barack Obama.”
The details are surprisingly complex but Limbaugh’s claim that the president was about to ban rods and reels for recreational fishermen amounted to “grossly distorting the truth,” Politifact concluded.
