In the aftermath of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s “Hell yes” comments at last Thursday’s Democratic debate on the issue of his gun confiscation plan, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took Politifact to task on the Twitter machine for a fact check they did on him during their Senate race last year.

Here’s what Cruz wrote last Friday:

Just a reminder, when I said it, PolitiFact (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC) rated “Beto wants to take our guns” as FALSE. Maybe they should buy one of his new t-shirts…. https://t.co/GqDbk4q272 https://t.co/EnnyDXL3xk

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 13, 2019

In a nutshell, in March 2018 Politifact rated as “false” a claim made in a song Cruz debuted the night of the Texas primaries which asserted that Beto “wants to take our guns”:

O’Rourke backs a ban on the future sale and possession of about 200 kinds of guns including AR-15-style rifles. But the legislation he’s cosponsoring doesn’t provide for officials to take any guns held lawfully at the time the measure becomes law.

We rate this Cruz claim False.

Fast forward to this week, where Politifact didn’t take too kindly to Cruz questioning their supposed impartiality. So of course they decided to fact check him in an effort to clear the air:

O’Rourke’s position may have changed, but that doesn’t affect the rating of our 2018 fact-check. We rate statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made.
[…]
Cruz also inaccurately called PolitiFact a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee. PolitiFact is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom that fact-checks Democrats and Republicans alike. PolitiFact Texas is run in partnership with the Austin American-Statesman, a daily newspaper. The same week Cruz called PolitiFact part of the DNC, several Democratic campaigns publicly complained that fact-checkers were giving unfair scrutiny to Democratic messaging and candidate comments.

PolitiFact seeks to present true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases. The reason we publish findings is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.

Unsurprisingly, Cruz is not backing down and has posted several more tweets since then calling their “independent” status into question:

PolitiFact tweeted today to dispute that they are “a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC.” Of course, they didn’t change their underlying partisan ruling. Methinks they doth protest too much. https://t.co/FrXJ1gGDhk pic.twitter.com/DmCxwdMmM2

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 17, 2019

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A reminder, we knew who he was well over a year ago. [trigger-warning: PolitiFact deems this satirical song “false.”] https://t.co/rfwwC2e5Sx. https://t.co/u9fnIiEupH

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 20, 2019

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As we watch Beto calling for forcible gun confiscation & for taking guns “from people’s homes,” it’s worth remembering, we knew who Beto was well over a year ago. [trigger-warning: PolitiFact deems this satirical song “false.”]: https://t.co/VlVnNZcvgr.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 20, 2019

Cruz’s whole point back when he debuted the song and now is that the slow erosion of 2nd Amendment rights is all part of a ‘step-by-step process” by Democrats to eventually take your guns away, as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) explained last week:

“When you really understand what the endgame of the left is, it’s literally mandatory buybacks or as I call it: confiscation. This is a step-by-step process for them,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Hill Thursday when asked about the debate over expanded background checks for firearms sales.

Not only that, but Politifact has absolutely blown it on a number of rulings they’ve posted just this year alone on claims made by and about Democrats. It doesn’t matter that they occasionally rule against the left – because the exception is not the rule here. On balance, they rule far more often in favor of Democrats than they do Republicans, and it’s not because Democrats are “more honest” than Republicans.

Lastly, Politifact really has no one else to blame but themselves for the belief they are owned by the DNC when you consider how they badly bungled their initial ruling on President Obama’s claim of “if you like your health insurance plan you can keep it.” They ended up backtracking and turning that one into their “Lie of the Year” in 2013.

Again, they’ve brought this on themselves.

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –