Sarah Palin Gets it Wrong - The WP Fact Checker Gets It Right

Another Forgettable Sarah Palin Story

The Dismal Political Economist recently criticized the Washington Post Fact Checker on his Fact Checking about a Democratic claim that the Ryan Senior Health Plan “threw seniors to the wolves”.  Our complaint was in part that you cannot “fact check” hyperbole, that’s why they call it hyperbole.

Well today the Fact Checker went back to checking facts, that is, actually verifiable statements.  In this case it was comments by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.   Here is just one excerpt from the piece, on Palin’s claim that the U. S. is or will be imporing $8 billion a day worth of oil.

Meanwhile, Palin’s claim of $8 billion a day in additional imports is absurd. That amounts to 80 million barrels a day at $100 a barrel—and the entire world's consumption is about 85 million barrels a day. If Palin took out a calculator, she would see that her own estimate of 200,000 barrels a day amounts to just $20 million a day.

Well, you get the picture. And to the WP Fact Checker we say glad to have you back, you are welcome to check our facts any time.