April 3, 2015

PolitFact fact-checks Scott Walker's claim that he bought a sweater for $1 at Kohl's.

PolitFact justifies paying attention to this trivia on 2 grounds: 1. It's hearing from readers who are saying it's impossible to believe, and 2. It's relevant to Walker's "major theme... that he is just an average guy."

It turns out that Walker made the claim about a "Chaps Twisted Button Mock Sweater" that could be found at Kohl's marked down from $70 to $7, and Walker said he'd used his "Kohl’s Cash," which is some kind of bonus system for regular customers: "Thus, he could have easily gotten one for $1 out-of-pocket. We rate the claim True."

79 comments:

Skeptical Voter said...

Has Al Gore--aka the Goracle--said how much he paid for his mansion in Montecito? Isn't that worth fact checking? Or for that matter, how much was he willing to pay to get his 'Second Chakra" released in a hotel in Portland.

I mean that's as least as important as a marked down sweater with a store rebate.

Big Mike said...

How much were the PoliFact checkers paid to do this "research"? Way more than a single dollar bill, I'll bet.

YoungHegelian said...

Would PolitFact have checked the claim that Scott Walker had purchased a pair of leather assless chaps for a $1?

I very much doubt it, but he'd have the support of Apple, NASCAR, & the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce if he did.

Crimso said...

The press will reach China before they uncover the slightest bit of dirt that will stick to him. I mean, really, is this the sort of thing that merits investigation now? Really?

Bay Area Guy said...

Wow, Woodward and Bernstein could not have done a better job of such high-impact investigative journalism.

Next up for PoliFact -- Scott Walker's sock drawer in disarray.

Deirdre Mundy said...

If you can't believe that someone got a great deal at Kohl's, you're totally divorced from mainstream, middle class America.

Walker's critics are clearly out-of-touch elitists.

Gahrie said...

I hear Scott Walker steps on the cracks when he walks down the sidewalk.

Gahrie said...

He obviously hates his mother....

War on Women!!!!!!

alan markus said...

Now would be a good time for PoliFact to fact check Hillary Clinton's tax deductions for Bill's used underwear given to charity.

Clinton Taxes Laid Bare, Line by Line

In previous returns, when Mr. Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas and his wife was a partner in a Little Rock law firm, the Clintons had gone so far as to deduct $2 for underwear donated to charities.

chickelit said...

YoungHegelian said...
Would PolitFact have checked the claim that Scott Walker had purchased a pair of leather assless chaps for a $1?

Aren't all chaps assless? They started out as cowboy work wear and they lacked a seat for practical reasons. This was well before "Brokeback Mountain."

I know what you mean though, YH. I think the Dems are trying very hard to fit Walker into the "Scrooge McDuck" sartorial stereotype and they're flailing.

MadisonMan said...

If you can't believe that someone got a great deal at Kohl's, you're totally divorced from mainstream, middle class America.

Agreed.

Retail prices are for suckers. If I pay more than $25 for a shirt -- button down -- I feel ashamed. I did pay almost full price a couple years ago when I was shopping for something to wear to a wedding.

I miss Pranges.

Simon Kenton said...

Coming up in 1, a panel from ABC! CNN! NBC! MSNBC! FOX! that pegs the gravitasimeter, with the truth about diapers in Sarah Palin's garbage. Jeb Bush? Scott Walker? Rand Paul? You won't believe who the stink clings to! Plus 58 certified tantric moves that will blow his effin' gourd from our Sexpert, Rachel Maddow!

Alex said...

If this is all the left has left on Walker, it's smooth sailing to the White House.

Original Mike said...

Desperate.

richlb said...

Barack Obama said that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. Can PolitiFact check that?

Alex said...

Quick, slime him! He doesn't wear Armani suits, he must be one of those flyover country types!

traditionalguy said...

This is all good. The more the Politifact runs a Walker's name and face with any story , except maybe using the Harley at night for smuggling wetbacks into Wisconsin to work at Koch's for $1.00 an hour...oops, it wasn't Scott. It was John Doe again. See how easy it is to start a rumor he will have to answer for. The DA will have to investigate for a minimum of five years.

Alex said...

Obv Walker will not go over well with the iPhone-hugging, Abercrombie-wearing urban hipsters.

Leora said...

My husband wants to be sure that it wasn't his wife who bought it for him.

traditionalguy said...

The real fun is at Bed Bath and Beyond, They also send stockholders monthly coupons for $5 off any item ( and you can ring up serial cash register tapes)and 20% discount on the rest. Adding those to the usual mail outs and Sunday Newspaper ones means the wife's bag is chock full when we go in.

The wife then goes around the store and asks all the shoppers if they have brought coupons and would they like a hand full out of her bag. We end up having a social hour added to the shopping time.

I suspect she is hurting the stock price single handedly.

Anthony said...

We got a Kohl's in my town a little while ago, and they wanted something ridiculous like $4 for a pair of underwear. Haven't been back, and now there's a Target in town. I don't want to have to put that much effort into gaming their system to get lower prices.

Ambrose said...

How much of that dollar went to Senator Kohl?

Levi Starks said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Kohls. Great place to shop!

If you have the time to dig in and work all the angles, sometimes you can get that sticker price down close to the everyday Walmart or Target price.

Laslo Spatula said...

I have Scarlett Johnasson buy all my underwear for me. I do not know which store, or stores, she buys them from.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laslo Spatula said...

Jessica Alba tried to make me wear a G-String she bought for me. Rhinestones, Bedazzled, shit like that. This is before I peed on her.


I am Laslo.

Mark O said...

words fail.

Mark B said...

Thanks for the Weezer link.

Ken B said...

I got Izod shirts for a buck at Penney once. Why is this so hard to believe it needs to be fact checked?

Chuck said...

How did PolitiFact rate the claim that all of Lois Lerner's emails were lost?

Or the claim that Hillary Clinton only used only one mobile device for email?

ndspinelli said...

Remember all these pro Walker posts when the semi literate law prof tells all you bozos why she voted for Hillary. You've all been warned, lemmings.

mccullough said...

Great advertisement for Kohl's.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Another Lefty suicide note.

Birches said...

I'm surprised he had to use Kohl's cash to get the price down. I usually don't buy shirts at Kohl's unless I can get it for under $5. I've seen stuff marked down for 75 cents or so every once in awhile. Keep mocking Coastal Media Elite---this just makes me like the man even more.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

And he can take it back up to a year later!

Kohl's No Hassle Returns

Anonymous said...

Bay Area Guy: "Next up for PoliFact -- Scott Walker's sock drawer in disarray."

We detect the most important character trait from the seemingly least important daily occurrence. Walker's disarrayed drawer demonstrates Walker's mind is often in disarray. People will say, if he can't organize his drawer, he can't organize his community. Everybody knows Community Organizing experience is vital to being a Dear Leader.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Cry havoc, and let loose the liberal cyberbullies!

Lewis Wetzel said...

Every journalist who is not explicitly conservative believes that Politifact is a reliable source.

Bob R said...


"Sweaters" is a great category.

Anonymous said...

Birches, you've paid 75 cents too much. I paid zero today for a pair of socks. I received a $10 Kohl cash and bought a pair of socks.

Bay Area Guy said...

Next up for PoliFact - Scott Walker the Lawbreaker! Got speeding ticket at Kenosha Bratwurst festival in 1987.

Patrick said...

Oh for Pete's sake. Seriously the stupidest thing I've heard today. And I spent most of the day in meetings where a lot of stupid shit was said

loudogblog said...

For the last 5 years, Kohls has sent me a $10 "Kohl's cash" gift card in the mail every three months. I'm not a member of their "Kohl's rewards" program. They just keep sending gift cards to me. So I always go down and hit the clearance racks and buy something for about $10. It's more than possible to get a lot of stuff for free at Kohls. (BTW, I will not sign up for their "rewards" program for fear of them thinking "we got him" and stopping to send me those gift cards.)

averagejoe said...

Chuck said...
How did PolitiFact rate the claim that all of Lois Lerner's emails were lost?
Or the claim that Hillary Clinton only used only one mobile device for email?

4/3/15, 9:09 PM

You took the words right out of my mouth/keyboard. Course, we both know the answer to those questions.

Smilin' Jack said...

Walker said he'd used his "Kohl’s Cash," which is some kind of bonus system for regular customers: "Thus, he could have easily gotten one for $1 out-of-pocket. We rate the claim True."

Hee...yeah, it's like if I used my tax refund to buy a car, that would mean I got a free car.

Smilin' Jack said...

"Chaps Twisted Button Mock Sweater"

And really, that sounds like something I'm not sure even Titus would wear.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"We also verified Governor Walker's claim to have purchased an updated version of the famed 1980s "Members Only" jacket, as well as a four ounce tube of "Banana Boat" sun screen (SPF 3000). Walker said that he and his wife were looking at condos "in Santa Domingo or maybe Costa Rica" and wanted to be prepared in case the condominium amenities included a "retro" discotheque. Condos in the areas Governor Walker considered have sold for as high as two hundred thousand dollars.
This is your Pulitzer prize winning Politifact, signing off."

Lewis Wetzel said...

Every conservative candidate must go against the press:

"To get a brief reprieve from the pressures of working in the White House, Kristina Schake, a former aide to the first lady, Michelle Obama, took a class about her favorite painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
She noticed that the Italian painter often showed Christ with bare feet, portraying his subject as a common man."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/style/this-woman-is-in-charge-of-shaping-hillary-clintons-image.html
Schake just happened to mention that she "took a class" about Caravaggio, and included the lessons learned in presenting MObama? Jesus Christ these journalists are gullible. During the Clinton impeachment I read a piece by a famous South American author where he gushed over how Bill Clinton could recite a few paragraphs of Faulkner from memory (Billy has been trotting out the same few paragraphs of Faulkner for years). Also, in the middle of the meal, Clinton got an important call! The author just caught a few words, but it was enough to know that it was about important negotiations with Middle eastern nations! Gosh!

tim maguire said...

Wow, even on so petty an issue, that "true" must have come through gritted teeth. I'm surprised they don't have a macro that automatically trashes Republican claims that turn out to be true.

I'm also quite sure they would have rated a Democrat making that claim on a $10 sweater "substantially true" on the theory of hyperbole as legitimate rhetorical technique.

Skipper said...

The "Palinization" continues.

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Rusty said...

51 comments for a dollar.

Bob Ellison said...

I once asked a liberal friend of mine, a snappy dresser, what I could do to improve my sartorial style, and he said, "You need to pay more than $50 for a shirt."

Got a good laugh, because there was truth in it.

Cynicus said...

I hear he wears mismatched socks and buy Christmas paper in January.

Roger Sweeny said...

I'm glad PolitFact did it, and I wish they'd do it for every image-building story candidates tell.

Maybe politics would get a little less phony.

dbp said...

It may have been a trivial subject to "investigate" but at least they published it--even though they rated it as true.

Phil 314 said...

A $400 haircut says "man of the people", a $1 sweater says miser.

MadisonMan said...

You need to pay more than $50 for a shirt

If you can't find a good $50+ shirt for way less than $50 then you're not looking very hard.

Of you value your time and don't want to spend it looking for ways to save money.

sinz52 said...

There's no limit to how far opposition research will go these days.

If Walker had said that he had first gone to the bathroom before picking out the sweater,

they would have hired three different plumbers to check out the urinal in the men's room to determine if it was likely operational on the day in question.

RecChief said...

say when are these leftists going to question the reason for sealing a president's college records? or the hiring records of a law professor at Harvard?

jr565 said...

Suppose he lied. Why would you need to fact check it?

jr565 said...

"He said he paid $1 at Kohl's. Quick, Johnny we need to check this out and prove the veracity of this claim. Thats why they pay us the big bucks!"
Their follow up article:
"Ted Cruz says he got Crest Toothpaste for 1 dollar off using coupons. But is it really true?"

Bruce Hayden said...

Funny thing to me is that this is the sort of thing that sells to the middle class. My partner the other day was telling me how she got something at some store by doing just as Walker did, stacking discounts and coupons, etc. We then went on to agree that neither of us ever pays retail for much of anything, except some food items. Except for a couple of ball gowns bought by her ex husband. But, he wouldn't let her shop at discount stores, while I shop with her.

We come to this frugality honestly. My mother, wife of an attorney, was my example of how to shop. She rarely paid retail. Ditto or my partner's mother. Her best friend, worth many millions, still buys his reading glasses at the dollar store, etc.

Contrast this with Hillary! She hasn't driven in 20 years (being chauffeured is so much nicer and convenient). She walked out of the White House with hundreds of thousands of dollars of furniture and home furnishings. Probably little surprise that one of her shiftless brothers was caught in another scam a week or so ago trading political capital (hers and Bills) for financial advantage.

Who do you want controlling the trillions being spent by the federal government? The guy who shops for deals? Or the woman who thinks driving (and email policies) is for the little guy?

paminwi said...

I want to know, no NEED to know, has Scott Walker ever worn SHORTS? If he has, look out.

That will disqualify him for Althouse. That will be her justification for voting for Hilary since she only wears pants!

Joe said...

In February, I used a combination of Kohl's cash and bonus points to buy $45 worth of stuff for $7. The cash and points came from Christmas presents and buying boxers.

richard mcenroe said...

Thank God Politifact is on top of the IMPORTANT issues of the day.

richard mcenroe said...

I think Politifact was trying to imitate PJ O'Rourke when he famously fisked John Edwards' claim to have a letter from a welfare mother who couldn't afford a winter cote for her child, and discovered you could buy a child's winter coat at K-Mart for $9.00...

Sam L. said...

Proof that Walker-hate is alive and unwell, because...Walker-phobia.

CatherineM said...

Kohl's rules although I think some of their quality has gone down.

ken in tx said...

Some things that do bear fact checking are the lies and false memes being circulated about some candidates. Someone at the Austin Statesman-American just debunked a lie saying that Ted Cruz once claimed that Obama was not eligible to be president because of his birth status but is a hypocrite about his own Canadian birth status. The newspaper determined that this was false and that Cruz has never made any known comment about Obama's birth status at all.

ken in tx said...

BTW, Mick, everyone knows your stand on this subject. So, don't bother this time. OK?

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

While labor and its capital products are fungible in an economy, it is still considered sacred and zealously overseen. Conservative fiscal policies engender conservation in a functional society by functional individuals.

clint said...

I'm actually kind of shocked.

This is the kind of story where Politifact usually rates a Republican's statement as "mostly true" or "half true" .

Is it paranoid to think "they" are trying to get us to nominate Walker -- perhaps because they think the college degree thing is a silver-bullet slam-dunk for-the-win story?

Anonymous said...

Anything Barack ever had to pay prior to being elected to a public position. Tuition, room and board in college or prep school. Was there a scholarship for being non American and 1/2 nonWhite?

But that's way less interesting than a sweater.

docweasel said...

The press is despicable, no wonder their industry is dying. Where was this investigative zeal looking into obama's college transcripts and other records, the reason his author bio listed him as being born in kenya, his relationship with domestic terrorists Ayres and racist preacher Wright? I don't believe obama was born in kenya, but there is ample evidence he claimed he was when it was advantageous to his career. I wouldn't be surprised if he used it as a cat's paw to get into colleges and other programs. But we'll never know because the press only investigates Republicans and conservatives.

Anonymous said...

I find it nearly unbelieveable that ANYONE would feel the need to "fact check" this non-story. About 4 years ago I got a cute little lemon yellow Arizona brand ladies fashion T-Shirt at Macy's end of Summer blowout sale for .83. Sometimes we ALL find a smokin' deal. WHY is this news?

Bilwick said...

I like Glenn {Instapundit) Reynolds' comment on this: "But if you ask about Obama's college transcripts, you're a racist."