counterirritant: "Fail"

Frequent thorn in PolitiFact's side "counterirritant" published another gem last week showing why PolitiFact's credibility has disappeared somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. The issue this time is how PolitiFact deals with a relatively unambiguous statement from Robert Gibbs: "Nobody knows why [Romney] has a corporation in Bermuda, why he failed to disclose that on seven different financial disclosures."

What makes this fact check interesting is both Vanity Fair and the Associated Press already delved into the claim, and reached conflicting rulings. "counterirritant" explains:

This is an excellent opportunity for a real fact check. Two creditable sources reached diametrically opposite conclusions. Whether Romney failed or not hinges on whether the Vanity Fair or AP analysis of disclosure rules is correct. Conducting a fact check that settled the disagreement would be a great way to determine whether or not there was a failure.

 Any guesses on how PolitiFact fared with the challenge?

Head over to "counterirritant" and read the short post yourself to find out. While there are a few mysteries involving this rating, "counterirritant" makes one thing clear:

Until it can be determined whether the absence of [the corporation] on the disclosures was proper or not, Romney’s failure, or lack thereof, is in doubt. PolitiFact’s failure is, however, doubtless.

We'd add that unlike Amelia Earhart's plane, the location of PolitiFact's bias is well known.



Edit 7/30/12: Added word for clarity in penultimate paragraph-Jeff