Monday, April 1, 2013

Fact-Checking Ted Cruz

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) plays fast and loose with the facts according to non-partisan Politifact.com.

PolitiFact Texas and the national PolitiFact team have been fact-checking Cruz as he deploys his rhetoric in defense of conservative causes. When it comes to accuracy, the statements we’ve looked at show Cruz is tilted toward the negative side of the Truth-O-Meter.
• Out of 14 statements we’ve rated, seven have been either False or Pants on Fire.
• We rated three statements Half True.
• We rated nother four statements Mostly True or True.
 
Lowlights from Cruz in terms of factual accuracy include his claims that Chuck Hagel's nomination for secretary of defense has been cheered by the Iranian government and that the federal government has told the Catholic Church to change its beliefs or else have its charities and hospitals shut down.  Cruz appears to be carrying on a recent trend of Republican politicians playing to a GOP base that lives in a different factual universe than the rest of the electorate.

UPDATE: Cruz strikes again with the claim that"expanding Medicaid will result in the worsening of health care options for the most vulnerable among us in Texas."  PolitiFact.com rates this claim "false."

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