Don Surber: "Hey PolitiFact, here's your death panel"

Thanks to the Charleston Daily Mail and columnist Don Surber, a little reminder that PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year selection for 2011 isn't the first to receive well-grounded criticism:

The liberal apologists at the Tampa Bay Times’ PolitiFact have denied for more than 2 years that Obamacare has death panels. How it could assure us in 2009 of just what was in a law that was not finalized until 2010 is a mystery that defies the laws of chronology; maybe in addition to having the power to divine the truth in politics, the personnel of PolitiFact have the power of prophecy.

Surber's just getting started, so scoot on over to the Daily Mail's website and read the whole thing.

Don Surber: "Obama proved it was government-run healthcare"

Don Surber notices the same connection between the actions of the Obama administration and PolitiFact's 2010 "Lie of the Year" that I pointed out last week.  We highlight it here at PolitiFact Bias because Surber makes the criticism of PolitiFact so effectively and directly:

On December 17, 2010, as part of its continuous support and defense of Obamacare, PolitiFact boldly declared as its Lie Of The Year “government takeover of health care.”

This week, President Obama’s own actions proved that PolitiFact’s editors were in error. By requiring that everyone’s health insurance (which will soon be mandatory) carry free birth control for women — no co-payments or no deductibles — not only does President Obama violate the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution (religion and equal protection under the law) but President Obama lays bare the lie that this is not government-run health care.

Surber's observation serves as yet another indicator that liberals critical of the 2011 "Lie of the Year" selection were simply late to the party.  Not that a thorough progressivist indoctrination can't detect a full-on conservative bias at PolitiFact.

If PolitiFact has any chance of redemption on this issue, it comes from the doubt as to whether the executive branch has the authority it claims from the health care bill to require insurance companies to provide a service free of charge.

If no such authority exists, of course, it makes President Obama's position to the contrary a falsehood.

Don Surber: "PolitiFact fisked"

We're way overdue recognizing Don Surber's ongoing commentary regarding PolitiFact, but his "PolitiFact Fisked" is as good a start as any:

There is an old saying in the newspaper trade that if you are taking it from both sides, you must be doing something right. The reality is that you definitely are doing something wrong and in the case of PolitiFact, editor Bill Adair and company are doing plenty of things wrong.

Surber's always a great read, especially when he chooses PolitiFact as his subject.  The above is just a teaser for an excellent fisking of PolitiFact.  Read it all.

And could it be a coincidence that PolitiFact uses the fact of criticism from both sides to implicitly claim it's doing something right?