In Which CNN's Daniel Dale Demonstrates the Problem With 'Fact Checkers' in One Post-Debate Tweet

So-called “fact-checkers” have done about as much damage to their own profession as national media journalists have in recent years, and there is no better example of that than CNN’s Daniel Dale.

Dale, who in his Twitter bio labels himself as a “reporter, fact-checking the president and other politicians,” thoroughly beclowned himself in a tweet he posted Thursday after the debate, as well as in a “New Day” segment he participated in this morning, where he discussed which comments from the debate he determined were untrue.

It’s what he first tweeted last night post-debate about how President Trump did versus how Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden did that really kicked off the howls of laughter amongst the conservative Twitterati, most of who have seen this clown show from Dale (and others at CNN) all too often:

Biden was again imperfect from a fact check perspective. He made at least a few false, misleading, or lacking-in-context claims.

Trump was, as usual, a serial liar.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 23, 2020

LOL. Got that? Biden – who in reality told a ton of outright lies during the debate last night, such as claiming no one lost their health insurance under Obamacare – was merely “imperfect from a fact check perspective”, making “at least a few false, misleading, or lacking-in-context claims.”

Trump, on the other hand, was a “serial liar,” according to Dale.

In no sane universe can this hot take be viewed as anything other than what it is: Absurdly biased, with the clear intent to plump Biden’s pillow in the final stretch of his presidential campaign, while boiling Trump’s much better debate performance down to “serial” lies.

Dale got called out for this outrageous bit of spinsanity big time:

In which Daniel Dale demonstrates the job of our so-called "fact-checkers": calling Trump a liar while working as hard as possible to contextualize Biden's lies. https://t.co/sIm2jj27E1

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 23, 2020

Remember, when their guy lies, it's "imperfect from a fact check perspective." A preview of the hard-hitting journalism you'll get under a Biden administration. https://t.co/81n37Wptzf

— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) October 23, 2020

“Imperfect?!” What a joke.

Big Biden lies:

✅ “Nobody lost coverage under Obamacare”
✅ Calling China travel restrictions were “racist and xenophobic”
✅ “Never said opposed fracking”
✅ “GOP congress blocked CJR for Obama”
✅ “HEROES Act helped small biz” https://t.co/gTSoVekUd4

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 23, 2020

This tweet represents the state of the media in our country https://t.co/enuKs3SCot

— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) October 23, 2020

Daniel thinks clear lies like “no one lost their plan under Obamacare” are just casual statements to be dismissed.

Fact checking is dead, and it’s because the fact checkers so casually display their true biases. #debates https://t.co/QEaYxhNAhI

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) October 23, 2020

Sadly, Dale getting taken to the woodshed for his ridiculously one-sided spin on the contrasts between Trump and Biden didn’t seem to phase him, because he doubled down on his claims a few hours later on “New Day”:

“Biden made some false claims, some claims misleading or lacking context, but we just got a firehose, an avalanche, a bombardment” of falsehoods from President Trump during last night’s debate, @ddale8 says. https://t.co/8aJr6IWgPM pic.twitter.com/i4Ux7Jz1JP

— New Day (@NewDay) October 23, 2020

To make matters even worse, here’s NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen laughably giving credence to Dale’s “fact-checking” style:

Again, it's not that hard to maintain a sense of proportion. Biden made some false claims. Trump was a serial liar.

Perfection may sound like an unreasonable standard, but it's not. An outstanding candidate can get through a debate without making a claim the checkers will flag. https://t.co/lE0Z4NMG7N

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) October 23, 2020

It’s hardly a wonder why the journalism profession is in the sad, sorry state it’s in when you read tweets like Rosen’s. I mean, the guy is responsible for educating future media figures. Think about it.

As the one Twitter user noted above, fact-checking is indeed dead, and it’s because the fact-checkers who are supposed to review claims made by candidates and politicians from a neutral perspective simply cannot keep their liberal biases to themselves.

It’s for this reason that so few people trust supposedly “respectable” fact-checkers like Politifact, the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, and all the rest. They tested positive for Trump Derangement Syndrome long, long ago, and the only “cure” for it is to get him out of office — even if it means nuking what tiny shred of credibility they think they have left in the process.

It’s sad, really, because the public should be able to rely on fact-checkers to sift through claims and call it down the line. But this is what fact-checkers have become. It’s an extension of the overt bias we see on any given day from their contemporaries in the mainstream media like Brian Stelter, Oliver Darcy, Maggie Haberman, and all the rest.

And it won’t get any better, because the left-leaning audiences they cater to are fine with living in that alternative reality, where everything their guy says is right or “imperfect,” but okay while everything the other guy says is a blatant lie and part of some nefarious plot to deceive the American people.

As is the case for the mainstream media, respect for fact-checkers at this point is at an all-time low. And they have no one to blame for that but themselves.