The John McCain file

PolitiFact, St. Petersburg Times | Jun. 3, 2008 (Special Report)

John McCain is a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he has held since 1986. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. McCain is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisonor of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. He and his wife, Cindy, have four children together. McCain also has three children from his first marriage. Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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by Max Blum - Oct. 1, 2008

Good idea but incomplete. The page appears fair at first glance, but the coverage of the number of statements and claims, particularly by McCain, is extremely slim. They rate 53 statements by John McCain. He makes that number statements every 2 or 3 days. This diminishes trustworthiness.

One example: ‘“Ronald Reagan met with Gorbachev; Kennedy met with Khruschev; and Nixon met with Mao and these were folks who have done horrendous damage not only to their own countries but to other countries.” Yes, but you cant lump Gorbachev with Mao’… What? As if M. Gorbachev was not the last dictator of the avowed “Evil Empire”, one that at the time and upon his command could wipe out half our nation in less than 8 minutes? It shows, at best, deficient judgment to claim that the statement by Obama has some element of incorrectness.

Improve the effort; include more claims and statements by candidates. Pay attention to the ones the candidates keep repeating.
Careful how you judge each political entry, because you may be teetering on the verge of partiality. And that defeats the purpose of this good effort by the newspaper.