Current Events > Washington Post fact checker gives Ocasio-Cortez FOUR Pinocchios for Claim

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https://thehill.com/homenews/media/419730-wapost-fact-checker-gives-ocasio-cortez-four-pinocchios-for-pentagon-claim

The Washington Post "fact checker" column awarded Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) "four Pinocchios" on Tuesday after she said in a tweet that a "$21 trillion mistake" by the Pentagon could have paid for about two-thirds the cost of a Medicare for all bill.

$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions could not be traced, documented, or explained. $21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon," she wrote to her 1.46 million followers.

The column said the tweet was wrong on a couple of counts.

First, it said it made an apples and oranges comparison, in that the $32 trillion estimated to pay for providing Medicare to all citizens was over 10 years, while the errors in Pentagon spending highlighted by the future lawmaker were over 17 years.

More importantly, the Pentagon errors cited by Ocasio-Cortez, which came from research by Michigan State economics professor Mark Skidmore, represent missed transactions that include both inflows and outflows and not a lost pot of $21 million that all went out the door. It includes assets and liabilities, a point The Washington Post said was missing from Ocasio-Cortez's tweet.

In another tweet, Ocasio-Cortez said that her real point was that people only demand fiscal details on health and education. And her office in an email to the Post faulted the fact that people only worry about how something will be paid for when it is for "investing in the physical and economic well-being of our citizenry."

But the Post said this was not enough.

"Ocasio-Cortez is not the first Twitter user to mangle information from a news report," the Post wrote. "But its unconvincing to try to pass this off as a rhetorical point being misread. She cited the $21 trillion figure and said 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.

"Thats a direct comparison. Its badly flawed. The same article she referenced on Twitter would have set her straight. The tweet is still up, probably causing confusion. So we will award Four Pinocchios to Ocasio-Cortez," they wrote.

The Post has always applied Pinocchios in rating public statements, ranging from one to four Pinocchios depending on the degree of the lie, with four being the most egregious.

Ocasio-Cortez's tweet has been retweeted more than 26,000 times and liked more than 72,000 times.

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does this 'fact checker' even bother with trump? he IS pinocchio
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This woman is getting grilled over everything and she hasn't even been sworn in yet. I hope she never stops.

"Ocasio-Cortez is not the first Twitter user to mangle information from a news report"

You don't fucking say.
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Whose alt is this
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So Amazon doesn't like her.
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Interesting that her mistake is more concerning for some than the fact that the military lost track of over $21 trillion over 17 years(that's more than a trillion dollars per year). Where did it go? Did it exist? What other errors did they make that we're not even aware of?

good on the WP for calling out someone on the left for misrepresenting facts
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Sure. So how many times are you guys gonna post about this? I learned that she was being overzealous the first time this was posted here.
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Sometimes her inexperience shows. She also mangled an interview or two in a similar way, leading up to the election. Over all though, I'm extremely impressed with her. She ran her primary like a total pro and she's deftly handling the obsessive amount of criticism coming at her from the Right. I wish I agreed more with her on policy, because I think she might lead the Democratic Party some day.
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It would be interesting if she keeps pulling a Trump by never apologizing and keep stating things that support her political causes regardless if the facts are true or not. Seems to work with Trump. He now lies all the time (much worse than Ocasio-Cortez) and no one does anything about it.
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This woman is basically the left's Trump
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Leftist Sarah Palin. She's in over her head.
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Ambience posted...

This woman is basically the left's Trump

In a political strategy she is the closest analog to Trump. Always attacking and never backing down. If she starts apologizing I bet her influence is going to significantly go down.
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spudger posted...

does this 'fact checker' even bother with trump? he IS pinocchio

It's the post, probably all the time.
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YellowSUV posted...

Ambience posted...

This woman is basically the left's Trump

In a political strategy she is the closest analog to Trump. Always attacking and never backing down. If she starts apologizing I bet her influence is going to significantly go down.

She's no where near as bad cmon. But she did get flak for saying nice things about McCain during his death from more left people

Ambience posted...

This woman is basically the left's Trump

LOL

Kolibri X posted...

Leftist Sarah Palin. She's in over her head.

LOL
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CruelBuffalo posted...

She's no where near as bad cmon.

Attitude, no. But she's just as blatantly wrong as Trump about a large amount of things yet pushes forwards with them anyways. I guess you could argue that she actually believes in what she stands for rather than Trump who's just in it for his ego.
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Has she responded to her mistataement yet?

Giant_Aspirin posted...

good on the WP for calling out someone on the left for misrepresenting facts

Now if only we could get the right to do it with the more than daily lies from Donnie and his shit house administration.
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CruelBuffalo posted...

YellowSUV posted...

Ambience posted...

This woman is basically the left's Trump

In a political strategy she is the closest analog to Trump. Always attacking and never backing down. If she starts apologizing I bet her influence is going to significantly go down.

She's no where near as bad cmon. But she did get flak for saying nice things about McCain during his death from more left people

That's why I said closest, I was just speaking in political strategy of pushing your agenda.
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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Interesting that her mistake is more concerning for some than the fact that the military lost track of over $21 trillion over 17 years(that's more than a trillion dollars per year). Where did it go? Did it exist? What other errors did they make that we're not even aware of?

Weird how even this post is being ignored
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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Interesting that her mistake is more concerning for some than the fact that the military lost track of over $21 trillion over 17 years(that's more than a trillion dollars per year). Where did it go? Did it exist? What other errors did they make that we're not even aware of?

The media corporations, centrists, and conservatives worship the military industrial complex.
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Unstated by the op: That's 4 out of 100 so it's not a big deal

Complete_Idi0t posted...

Unstated by the op: That's 4 out of 100 so it's not a big deal

Better than most politicians
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

good on the WP for calling out someone on the left for misrepresenting facts

Honestly if OC wants to be more prolific in politics than she better up her game if she wants to play a larger role. This if anything is a shot in the arm to get her to be better at "politics"

Secondly, WP is just going to casually drop that the Pentagon has "lost" over 21 TRILLION DOLLARS like its nothing. I feel like the bigger story is ignored here.
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