Brit Hume calls out 'dishonest' PolitiFact for grading his description of Biden as 'senile' false

MEDIA


Published March 31, 2021
Last Update 20 hrs ago


PolitiFact has a history of providing misleading fact checks


By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News

 

Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume fired back Wednesday at the liberal-leaning PolitiFact for an October "fact check" attempting to debunk his description of then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as "senile."

 
"Elderly people experiencing memory loss and other problems associated with age can go for periods, for hours at a time and be just fine," Hume said ahead of the first debate between Biden and then-President Trump on Sept. 29 of last year.

"I don’t think there’s any doubt Biden’s senile, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to show up tonight ... And now that the expectations for him have been set so low, you know if he comes out and doesn’t drool and gets through everything pretty well, it could end up being quite a boost for him," Hume said.

PolitFact labeled Hume's statement as "false," citing "geriatric experts" before acknowledging that "[s]enility is not a precise medical term but is often used in place of the more precise and accepted medical term of 'dementia,'" of which the experts said Biden "does not exhibit signs."
On Wednesday, Hume offered a "fact check" of his own.

CNN 'FACT-CHECKER' PRAISES BIDEN AS 'GENERALLY FACTUAL,' CALLS INACCURACIES 'SLIPS RATHER PURPOSEFUL LIES'

"Note the sleight of hand in this typically dishonest [fact] check from Politifact," Hume tweeted. "It notes that 'senile' is not a precise term, but then treats my use of it as meaning dementia, and then brings on experts to say Biden doesn’t have dementia."

"In fact," Hume said in a subsequent tweet. "I was using the word in its normal meaning, as per Merriam-Webster: '1. : of, relating to, exhibiting, or characteristic of old age senile weakness especially: exhibiting a loss of cognitive abilities (such as memory) associated with old age.'"

PolitiFact has been under fire in recent days for another fact check falsely claiming that a factual statement made by "Ruthless" co-host Josh Holmes about the new Georgia election law was "mostly false."

During an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Holmes dispelled the repeated claim by liberal activists that giving out bottles of water at polling places had bee "criminalized" by the new law.

"What is in the statute, what is absolutely clear, is that they're preventing political organizations from giving people in line things: meals, water, what have you," Holmes said. "Water is and should be provided at the polls for people who are standing in line."

The so-called "fact check" was slammed by critics, including Holmes' podcast colleague Michael Duncan.

"So Holmes says the bill doesn’t stop giving people water, it stops political organizers from doing it. Fact-checker: we’re going to fact-check whether it stops people from giving people water," Duncan began a lengthy Twitter thread. "You see that sleight of hand? It’s a semantics trick. She isn’t going to actually argue what he said. She’s going to be willfully obtuse to come to the outcome she wants."

He added, "Wait I thought we were fact-checking whether water was banned? So the statement is Mostly False because the law doesn’t REQUIRE water? You see how when PolitiFact can move the goalposts they can come up with any outcome? It’s a neat trick, you gotta give them that."


Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @JosephWulfsohn.

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