PolitiFact has chosen its “2014 Lie of the Year,” and surprisingly, it’s only an exaggeration.
The editors selected “exaggerations about Ebola” as the biggest falsity of 2014, naming it over two of President Obama’s major false statements.
Unlike its past chosen “lies,” this year’s winner is not a specific phrase but rather multiple assertions from various individuals that, when added together, deeply confused the American public about the Ebola virus.
Politifact named columnist George Will, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kent.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and “Internet conspirators” as people who contributed to the false narrative.
There were two Ebola-themed lies included in PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year” poll that allowed readers to vote for their favorite, one of which came from Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). He eluded to reports from the southern border of “illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as … Ebola virus.” This received 3.5 percent of the reader vote.
Second was a comment from George Will. The political commentator claimed that Ebola could be transmitted by “a sneeze or some cough.” Only 2.7 percent of PolitiFact’s readers chose this as the lie of the year.
However, Obama’s assertion that his position on immigration reform “hasn’t changed” received 8.6 percent of the reader vote in the poll, which is a good deal more than the 6.2 percent who voted for either of the Ebola lies.
Also under consideration for the title was Obama’s claim that his reference to extremists as a JV team “wasn’t specifically referring to” ISIS militants. This only won 1.9 percent of the reader vote.
In contrast, the largest proportion of readers — 31.8 percent — cast their votes for Republican Lenar Whitney’s statement that “global warming is a hoax.”
The PolitiFact editors select each year’s winner based on the degree to which the lie “infiltrates conventional thinking.”
In 2013, President Obama’s “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” lie about Obamacare won the top prize.
Unlike PolitiFact, Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, who runs the Fact Checker column, didn’t let Obama get away with his ISIS JV lie.
Kessler suggested on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday that Obama’s ISIS comment was the top lie of the year.
