Fact-checkers ignore Tlaib, the West needs US leadership and other commentary

Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s false statements are routinely ignored by media fact-checking groups. AFP/Getty Images

Media watch: Fact-Checkers Ignore Tlaib

Among the “outrageous falsehoods” that earned Rep. Rashida Tlaib a House censure “was clinging to the false claim that Israel bombed the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. But guess what? Our professional ‘fact-checkers’ haven’t located that lie . . . or any other nutty utterance, like her laughable claim that ‘from the river to the sea’ isn’t a Hamas slogan about the eradication of Israel,” reports Tim Graham at Fox News. Indeed, PolitiFact has done only one Tlaib fact-check in her four years in Congress; FactCheck.org’s “archive page lists eight fact checks — and all eight are focused on Tlaib’s opponents.” A search of Snopes.com “found 13 checks attacking anti-Tlaib posts,” but “nothing evaluating Tlaib. Several were from satire websites.” Reuters, USA Today and The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler also fail. Even when she tweeted a video claiming, “Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people,” Graham notes: “All the Biden-defending fact-checkers failed to pounce.”

Eye on DC: Primaries for Anti-Israel Dems

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) represents the Pittsburgh ’hood that saw the murder of 11 worshippers at the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue and “has found her strident position on Israel is not just turning off Jewish voters,” but a growing number of Democrats, too, notes The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. The day after Oct. 7, “Lee failed to show up at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, where hundreds of Pittsburghers and state politicians rallied in support of Israel.” Her stance has “earned a Democratic primary challenge.” The growing “fissure between far-left Democrats and traditional Democrats” over Israel is bringing multiple primary challenges, including for most of the “Squad.”

Liz Truss: The West Needs US Leadership

“There must be conservative leadership in the U.S.” that’s “once again bold enough to call out hostile regimes as evil and a threat,” pleads former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss in The Wall Street Journal. “Russia, China and Iran are seeking to defeat democracy”; any victory will “embolden them” and “give succor” to the others. So we “must ensure that Ukraine has a quantitative military advantage” over Russia, provide “defense capability” to Taiwan against China and impose “tougher sanctions” on Iran. “Finally, all of us in the West must halt the rot we have allowed to develop within our own societies that attacks the Anglo-American values of patriotism, freedom and family.” The future of the West “depends on it.”

Libertarian: Warren’s Sad Sandwich Crusade

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) thinks the government should investigate America’s alleged ‘sandwich shop monopoly,’ ” namely a private equity deal to acquire Subway, scoffs Reason’s Christian Britschgi. Warren’s “made a career of crusading against such ‘monopolies,’” but this latest “scores new points for pettiness” and “shows just how broad (and therefore meaningless) the word ‘monopoly’ has become in modern political discourse.” “From the casual consumer’s perspective, competition remains robust,” with “endless options for getting a sandwich,” including “grocery stores, convenience stores, coffee shops, non-chain delis, and more.” “Consumers can, and do, flit between all of these options with ease,” so why “police who owns businesses that specialize in putting cold cuts between slices of bread”?

Econ desk: Biden’s Fiscal Catastrophe

“Due to the Biden administration’s enormous spending, this year the Treasury has issued net $2 trillion in new debt — over 8% of GDP,” observes Philip Pilkington at UnHerd, even as “data shows that foreigners are no longer buying.” “The Biden administration has decided to ignore all sound practice when it comes to fiscal policy,” “injecting enormous amounts of fiscal expenditure through its Inflation Reduction Act.” Yes, the Federal Reserve could “start buying up Government debt again,” but that “would end any pretence of central bank independence.” That’s why “the current trends in the market for Treasuries raise red flags. And the Biden administration’s almost clownish mismanagement of the economy does not inspire confidence.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board