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Showing Original Post only (View all)So Politifact says "The idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual." I emailed them about it-- [View all]
Last edited Wed Oct 24, 2012, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)
Hank Williams Jr. says Barack Obama is a Muslim
Country singer Hank Williams Jr., who prides himself on being politically incorrect, took a moment during a Sept. 2, 2012, concert in Fort Worth to hammer misgivings about President Barack Obama.
As reported by critic Thor Christensen, who reviewed Williams performance at the Stockyards Music Festival for the Dallas Morning News, Williams said to a less-than-unanimous cheer: "Weve got a Muslim for a president who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him!"
Most everything in the singers statement shakes out as matters of opinion, which cant be fact-checked. PolitiFact also did not wade in after Williams compared Obama golfing with House Speaker John Boehner to Adolf Hitler playing with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister. (After Williams made that October 2011 analogy, he no longer sang the theme song for ESPNs "Monday Night Football."
But the idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual.
Country singer Hank Williams Jr., who prides himself on being politically incorrect, took a moment during a Sept. 2, 2012, concert in Fort Worth to hammer misgivings about President Barack Obama.
As reported by critic Thor Christensen, who reviewed Williams performance at the Stockyards Music Festival for the Dallas Morning News, Williams said to a less-than-unanimous cheer: "Weve got a Muslim for a president who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him!"
Most everything in the singers statement shakes out as matters of opinion, which cant be fact-checked. PolitiFact also did not wade in after Williams compared Obama golfing with House Speaker John Boehner to Adolf Hitler playing with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister. (After Williams made that October 2011 analogy, he no longer sang the theme song for ESPNs "Monday Night Football."
But the idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual.
From Jackpine Radical to Politifact:
"But the idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual."
You have to know that every right-wing bloviator in the Universe will ignore the rest of this article & focus on your one-liner. Thanks for making their work so easy for them.
From Politifact to Jackpine Radical:
Interesting thought. If wed said has a factual quality, better? No one to date, to my knowledge, has interpreted that line from our check in this way.
Jackpine Rdical responds:
First, let me thank you for replying to me. But please let me continue my quibble:
How can you take the statement "the idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual" as meaning anything other than that "Obama is a Muslim?"
If you are trying to say something other than that Obama is a Muslim in this sentence, it's not coming clear to me.
Doesn't the construction "The idea is factual" mean the same thing as " is true" (where the ellipsis represents some assertion about the world)?
For example--How would you construe the meaning of the following sentences?:
"The idea that 2+2=4 is factual."
"The idea that Willard Romney is a Mormon is factual."
Update from Politifact:
We check factual claims. In this case, we were explaining that this was a factual claim.
wgs
Me again:
In case you think I'm the only one bemused by your syntax, please see this thread:
(With--you guessed it--a link to this very thread that you are reading.)
Final (I trust) update from Politifact
Do you think my suggested rewording would clarify this sufficiently?
and my reply:
Maybe something like "The claim that Obama is a Muslim can be fact-checked."
And thank you very much for your responsiveness.
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So Politifact says "The idea that Obama is a Muslim is factual." I emailed them about it-- [View all]
Jackpine Radical
Oct 2012
OP
It is a fact that some believe he is a Muslim. Therefore the idea he is Muslim is factual.
librechik
Oct 2012
#1
No. Both of those imply a factual quality. This is simply an ASSERTION by Mr. Williams Jr.
BlueStreak
Oct 2012
#8
Yes, they should ended the sentence with the phrase - but it is not factual.
The Wielding Truth
Oct 2012
#17
What does it tell you when PolitiFACT doesn't know the difference between an ASSERTION and a FACT?
BlueStreak
Oct 2012
#4
Ask them if the "idea" that Mitt is "not a true Christian" is factual ... if so, they should
JoePhilly
Oct 2012
#7
Jackpine, please sent this exchange to Rachel Maddow's team. "Politifact" and their "fact checking"
myrna minx
Oct 2012
#9
And so what if he is? Do we need publications like this feeding the rabid bigotry
sabrina 1
Oct 2012
#10
I suspect Obama's thinking is more science-based than faith-based. Regardless ....
Scuba
Oct 2012
#18
Just as you saying what *you* think it means doesn't change the fact of what it means.
cui bono
Oct 2012
#31
Since you cannot even accept what factual means there is nothing to talk about.
cthulu2016
Oct 2012
#33
That would be "verifiable," "empirical," "testable" in my dialect of English.
Jackpine Radical
Oct 2012
#26
The point is that you are wrong and have been proven wrong. You should just stop.
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#53
You can't consider yourself seriously interested in facts if you can read my post about the synonyms
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#61
And that is why nobody uses Google dictionary. It is practically a slang dictionary.
cthulu2016
Oct 2012
#35
Thesaurus definition for "factual": real, correct Synonyms: absolute, accurate, actual,
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#51
I responded to your previous post if you want to continure there in one place. n/t
cui bono
Oct 2012
#25
Yes, that's what the majority of American English speakers will interpret it to mean. And, as I
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#52
I FIRMLY Believe that Mitt Romney is not qualified to be president that means it
WCGreen
Oct 2012
#27
Outrageous. Politifact knows exactly what they are doing with that careful phrasing.
reflection
Oct 2012
#30
Actually, it IS a FACT that "Hank Williams Jr. says Barack Obama is a Muslim." Here is my email to
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#54
Well, thanks, but I guess PolitiCrap doesn't agree, since they haven't bothered to even respond to
Dark n Stormy Knight
Oct 2012
#68
Maybe they meant because his father converted to Islam for a while, Obama's genetically Muslim.
Bucky
Oct 2012
#36
i don't see any definition of "factual" that means you just make shit up
noiretextatique
Oct 2012
#41