Sidebar: Has the Flip-o-Meter been a Flop?

Working through the task of compiling the last quarter of the year PolitiFact (PF) Truth-o-Meter ratings, I noticed another “cookie cutter” group of them: on the DNC (Democratic National Committee) pertaining to its claims in a single web video directed at Mitt Romney and his flipping on a variety of issues as the 2012 presidential campaign goes into full gear.

This was a nice multi-purpose bunch of rulings for PF: not only was it easy to do, it helped beef up the number of rulings on Democrats, which were really lagging because of all those coming out of the Republican presidential debates. On the other hand, this particular group only pertained to a Democratic Party boosting group, not an individual.

But the question becomes: why weren’t these just applied to Mitt, over time, as he made the flips, as part of the Flip-o-Meter? How did the DNC deserve all these rulings? We do have Jon Huntsman rated for statements that Mitt’s flipped, but other than that, in reviewing Mitt Romney’s associated rulings, I see nothing, nadda, zilch, with the Flip-o-Meter for Romney himself. You’d think there’d be at least one. Instead, it appears they’ve all been put on the regular Truth-o-Meter system under the “Candidate bio” subject: determining whether “gossip”-- something said about another candidate-- is true.

I occasionally see Flip-o-Meter rulings in the state associated rulings as I’ve compiled them this time, but these as well seem to be few and far between . Maybe the folks at PolitiFact feel a little over-extended on all the “meters” and are phasing them out. Maybe the Flip-o-Meter has been deemed a flop.

The youtube-posted video from which PF harvested most of these Democratic rulings is shown here, in a trying-to-be-amusing piece called MittvMitt: The Tale of Two men Trapped inside the same Body. There’s also another shorter preview version. It’s all done to attract attention to a website called “Mitt v Mitt” where e-mail addresses are solicited to “hold Mitt accountable.” Here's the long version:

Here’s a review of what the DNC “says” in this video along with PF’s judgment. The topics are highlighted, and the date and writer is noted in parentheses. Going to the Democratic National Committee’s PolitiFact statement page, one can see those eight statements in a row beginning “The DNC…

 Says Mitt Romney flip-flopped on abortion….True. (November 28 - Jacobson) Here’s the same claim, also covered by Lou Jacobson, from opponent Jon Huntsman (and from Rick Perry as noted by PolitiFact Texas).

 Says Mitt Romney flip-flopped on supporting "the president's Recovery Act” (the Stimulus)…Mostly False. (November 28 - Jacobson)

 Says Mitt Romney once supported President Obama’s health care plan but now opposes it…Mostly False. (November 28 - Holan)

 Says Mitt Romney flip-flopped on an assault weapons ban…Half True (November 29 - Jacobson) This was also covered by opponent Jon Huntsman earlier in the month, also done by Lou Jacobson.

 Says Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on his support for President Reagan’s policies…Mostly True. (November 29 - Moorhead)

 Says Mitt Romney flip-flopped on a taxpayer protection pledge…True! (November 29 – Jacobson)

 Says Mitt Romney has said different things about whether global warming is caused by humans…Mostly True. (November 30 - Holan)

 Says Mitt Romney has changed his position on supporting the TARP program…False! (November 30 – Moorhead)

The combined Truth Index for these statements by the DNC is a positive 12.5. In other words, the DNC averaged a bit better than Half True in this video as determined by PolitiFact’s rulings. But what it really says is that it’s on the True side (a little over half) that Mitt Romney is a flip flopper, when you analyze eight campaign issues.

The overlap/redundancy between the Truth-o-Meter and the Flip-o-Meter comes full fore here. It doesn’t seem consistent when Flips are not being measured by the Flip-o-Meter when PF comes right out and says they’re reviewing flips, but puts them on the Truth-o-Meter instead. My other problem with this is that they are not rating Democrats, they are rating Republicans based on what Democrats say. So while they built up the quantity of Democratic rulings since they had so many on Republicans, they were still rating Republicans.

Which a certain someone is going to call more liberal bias on the part of PolitiFact.