Reply #7: They're good for non-political stuff.

[baldguy]

Otherwise, they have chugged the cool-aid just like every other media outlet. Consider:


Items classified as "false" which are, in fact, true -

Claim: President Bush is responsible for a 17% increase in Medicare premiums.
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/medicare.asp

Claim: President Bush misspoke at a right-to-life rally and repeatedly said 'feces' instead of 'fetus.'
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/fetal.asp

Claim: President George W. Bush has sponsored the creation of a Presidential Prayer Team.
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/prayer.htm

Claim: Hoping to attract the singer's attention at the March 2002 Presidential Gala, George W. Bush waved at Stevie Wonder.
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/bushwave.htm

Claim: President George W. Bush proclaimed, "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur."
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm


Items classified as "research incomplete" or "undetermined" which are, in fact, true -

Claim: E-mail lists 'four years of George W. Bush double standards.'"
Status: Incomplete.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/numbers.asp

Claim: After a spectator at a Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia told President Bush that he was "disappointed" with his work, the President responded, "Who cares what you think?"
Status: Undetermined.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/hangley.htm

Claim: American president George Bush asked Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso if "Brazil has blacks, too."
Status: Undetermined.
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/brazil.htm

In EVERY case, unless there's overwhelming evidence to support it - they determine criticism of Bush to be false. They never go back to the original source. The "Who cares what you think?" incident is a direct quote from a first-person source with no particular axe to grind. For general historical research such a source would be believed without question, but since it's CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN BUSH that's the subject it becomes "undetermined".

edit to add link for all the GWB-related stuff listed on snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/bush.asp