Althouse: "I think it's fine to have a free market where the debate is on many channels and one of them has on-screen fact-checking."

September 26, 2016

"I think it's fine to have a free market where the debate is on many channels and one of them has on-screen fact-checking."

"I'd like one of them to be like 'Mystery Science Theater' or 'Beavis and Butthead.' Another could be 'Bad Lip Reading.' Let the people decide what they'd like to watch."

32 comments:

Tommy Duncan said...: You would need to combine the onscreen fact checking with the MST3K guys. That would allow the MST3K guys to fact check the fact checkers.; 9/26/16, 11:38 AM
AlbertAnonymous said...: "Fact Checking" in today's politics means nothing more than "we have a group or groups set up claiming to be independent non-biased factual fact checkers, but which are really just another part of our political machine that will be re-iterating and re-enforcing OUR positions and distorting and spinning the positions of our enemies/adversaries/opponents."

I've seen fact checking. This aint fact checking.; 9/26/16, 11:48 AM
WisRich said...: To paraphrase Milton Fridman:

You know, I think you’re taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to fact check these candidate for us ? Well, I don’t even trust Mystery Science Theater to do that.; 9/26/16, 11:52 AM
WisRich said...: Friedman; 9/26/16, 11:53 AM
Unknown said...: Freeman Hunt said...
"to heighten aesthetic awareness"

Isn't that usually something associated more with LSD than pot?
9/26/16, 11:15 AM

it is but it can also be true about marijuana. both drugs are hallucinogens, so slightly related in terms of their effects.; 9/26/16, 11:55 AM
D. B. Light said...: There will be plenty of twitter feeds doing that, and Scott Adams will be doing real time commentary.; 9/26/16, 12:11 PM
John henry said...: Isn't this what you get by following the various folks who liveblog the debates? Some of them anyway.

One difference is that most of them admit that they have a bias ranging from mild to completely in the tank for one side or the other.

They seldom pretend to be neutral. While actually being in the tank. I think I prefer to see bloggers doing the fact checking.

I think my wife wants to listen. If it were up to me, I would just leave the sound off and watch a movie on my tablet.

The only interesting thing in this debate will be whether Crooked Hilary keels over or not.

If she does not, I think she "wins" the debate.

John Henry; 9/26/16, 12:12 PM
John henry said...: And speaking of keeling over:

I've seen comments elsewhere that it is not right to ask a 68 year old woman to stand and speak for 90 minutes.

I do not understand why not. I am within a few months of Crooked Hilary's age and I do it all the time. Once or twice a month I teach a 2 day workshop. Day 1 is mostly lecture and I stand the entire time. (I can't sit and lecture. I have to be on my feet) that's 8 hours with 2 15 min and 1 30 min break. I do get to sit a bit, perhaps half, of the second day.

Next week I am teaching a 2-1/2 day machinery class where I will be on my feet, except breaks, the entire time.

When I teach academic classes, they are usually 3-1/2 hours with 1 20 minute break. I am standing the entire time.

I often give 60 minute speeches. Standing.

I am about 30# overweight, have some feet issues and occasionally have problems with my knees. Yet I can do this fairly easily.

So what is so special about Crooked Hilary that she may not be physically up to standing and talking for 90 minutes?

Weak, weak, weak.

John HEnry; 9/26/16, 12:19 PM
machine said...: WARNING: Drinking every time Trump lies during the debate could lead to alcohol poisoning and death; 9/26/16, 12:23 PM
walter said...: Maybe they should borrow from Vh1s Pop up videos; 9/26/16, 12:28 PM
Nonapod said...: I don't believe that truly objective fact checking is possible in today's political climate, at least in any way that would penetrate the public consciousness. There's a lot of groups that fact check under the aegis of unbiased objectivity, but of course there's a difference between claiming to be unbiased and actually being unbiased. It's kind of like the term "non-partisan". There's no shortage of groups that claim to be non-partisan. But any group that is made up of human beings is going to have some kind of partisan bent. That's just the way human beings are.

Anyway, as I said in another thread I don't think it really matters anyway since these debates are less about facts and are much more about personality.; 9/26/16, 12:29 PM
Beth M said...: Ive been advocating this idea for sports for years.; 9/26/16, 12:31 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: WARNING: Drinking every time Trump lies during the debate could lead to alcohol poisoning and death

Don't worry. We've been practicing these last 8 years with Obama and we all have built up a great tolerance for lies and alcohol.

I've seen comments elsewhere that it is not right to ask a 68 year old woman to stand and speak for 90 minutes

@ John Henry. Hillary is a weak and ill person. Age has nothing to do with it.

I'm just a little bit shy of Hillary's age. (Will be 67 in Jan). Today I plan to prune the wild rose bushes which are now about 7 ft tall and haul the limbs to the burn pile, which is getting quite huge with all the other tree limbs and pulled up shrubs. That should only take about 15 to 10 minutes. I will pick the last of the apples using a ladder. Probably another 40 pounds or so. Make candied dehydrated apples and get them into the dehydrator for their 10 to 12 hour drying time. Turn the compost pile with new apple parings. Pick up the rest of the fallen fruit for a friend's chickens. Then I will scrub the few areas of the deck where the plums had fallen and are stubbornly sticking to the deck. Yesterday I used the pressure washer to get rid of most of them, but it will require hands/knees/soap/scrub brush. Probably another 30 to 40 minutes.

Then. If I have time before preparing dinner and having cocktails on the deck will rototill the garden and turn in some sheetrock scraps to give the soil a better balance of minerals for next year and lay plastic over the raised beds to prevent weed growth this winter. This will require loading some bricks into the lawn tractor trailer and hauling them from one side of the property to the other. Nah....I think I'll do this tomorrow.

If I am an old lady and can do these things, why can't Hillary. If she cannot, then she needs to be put out to pasture.

After dinner and cocktails, the debate should be entertaining. We will pause it frequently and do our own commentary.

Standing still for 90 minutes would be a pleasure. BTW: I'm sitting right now waiting for the apple cake I made this morning to come out of the oven. Have to rest once in a while.; 9/26/16, 12:39 PM
traditionalguy said...: The trouble is the Media claque are calling out lies based on their self made politically correct alternate reality list of disputable semi-truths. They have become Mini Global Warming Hoaxers who expect any truthful speakers to be jailed for outrageous criminal conduct.; 9/26/16, 12:54 PM
cubanbob said...: DBQ that's a pretty impressive list of chores for a "senior" citizen. I doubt Trump could do them as well. I'm old school. To me Hillary shouldn't be put out to pasture, she should be working in the prison farm. I am deciding which two bottles to drink tonight along with what cheese. There is no way to watch tonight's cage match a/k/a trainwreck sober.; 9/26/16, 1:02 PM
walter said...: I'm sure Hil will be pumped full of whatever she got at Chelsea's place.; 9/26/16, 1:15 PM
walter said...: ..for that pesky pneumonia that was going around..; 9/26/16, 1:16 PM
Lauderdale Vet said...: I'll be watching the debate on CPSAN.

I'll take my fact checking after the debate, crowd sourced in public.; 9/26/16, 1:22 PM
Larry J said...: Lauderdale Vet said...
I'll be watching the debate on CPSAN.

So will I. I have no need for media "fact checkers" spouting their bullshit.; 9/26/16, 1:58 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: I'm nowhere near Hillary's age, but I ride 20 miles round trip with my 82 year old neighbor every morning, weather permitting, and we climb some pretty substantial hills in the process.

I also belong to a bicycling club that rides Tuesday nights and weekends, and I'm the only person in that group who isn't retired, and those rides are at least 15 miles, sometimes longer.

I know someone older than Hillary that hiked up and then back down Mount Kilimanjaro last year.

Furthermore, Hillary is 68, and Trump is 70. Why would it be cruel to expect her to stand for 90 minutes, but perfectly acceptable to ask Trump, who IS OLDER than she is to do the same, other than because leftism is a mental disorder?; 9/26/16, 2:15 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Is there a reason Althosue pushes the kid's stuff?; 9/26/16, 3:00 PM
Static Ping said...: Why would you ruin MST3K with politics? Ick.

The idea of riffing on politicians is not a terrible idea, but it is very difficult to do off the cuff. They did something similar with the State of the Union: Undressed on Comedy Central. They brought in Dennis Miller, the man of a thousand references of which you will know maybe five, plus a few more commentators to do a live action commentary on the State of the Union address. It had a few hilarious moments, but most of it was rather boring.

It is hard to come up with consistently funny with basically no lead time. You must understand that MST3K, outside of their first season on public access, was a scripted show. The jokes were written out beforehand. They watched the movie multiple times. Original jokes were refined and replaced. There may be an ad lib in there somewhere, but likely that ad lib came in a practice session. They would never do a live performance for which they did not know what to expect every step of the way.

For a fact check version, I would not trust any live action fact check. Even in good faith, it is too little time to properly absorb what is being said, parse it correctly, and then produce the correct response. Best case is by the time it is done right, the fact check comes up 5 minutes later and no one is paying attention. This is the sort of thing you do the day after and will multiple editors of multiple political persuasions to hash through things. I have zero faith that could be done in today's media environment.; 9/26/16, 3:00 PM
Fabi said...: machine wins the Irony Internet for the day!; 9/26/16, 3:08 PM
Sigivald said...: Who checks the facts?

Far too many "fact checkers" are really "opinion about subjective claims and value judgment" checkers, pretending that those are facts.

(Even "X would cost $Y" is subject to that - unless it's buying something off the shelf, all costs are estimates, and even scrupulously honest trying-to-be-realistic estimates vary.

I trust no media source to treat such questions honestly on a political matter.

"The United States entered the Second World War in December of 1942" is about the level of thing I'd trust a fact-check on ... and things like that aren't ever important in a debate.); 9/26/16, 3:36 PM
Scott said...: I think a very large percentage of the people tuning in to watch the debate tonight will do so for the same reason large numbers watch NASCAR or a hockey match. To see the car wreck, or watch the fight.; 9/26/16, 3:44 PM
Birches said...: I can't believe so many people are planning on watching. I'm just going to monitor Twitter. I don't think I could listen to either of them speaking for 90 minutes without throwing something at the TV.; 9/26/16, 3:56 PM
John henry said...: Bite your tongue, DBQ.

You are NOT an old lady. If you were, that would make me an old man and I am just a young fella.

Don't you know that 75 is the new 40?

Also, Ann, could you please delete her note? I am worried that my wife will see it and wonder "If she can do so much, you can't you help out a bit more. She is going to make it hard on all us husbands here.

(Note that she called you an "old lady" too, Ann)

WE REJECT YOUR AGEIST LABELING, DBQ!!!!!

Seriously, DBQ, congratulations on being able to do so much at that age. Any normal healthy person should be able to do, if not quite that much, at least stand and talk for 90 minutes. That was the point I was trying to make about Crooked Hilary, she is not healthy and anyone who thinks she should not be forced to stand and talk for 90 minutes is admitting that.

John Henry; 9/26/16, 4:03 PM
John henry said...: Sigvald said:

"The United States entered the Second World War in December of 1942" is about the level of thing I'd trust a fact-check on ... and things like that aren't ever important in a debate.)

And even that fact checking would be wrong. the US entered WWII-Europe considerably earlier. We were sending arms to be used against Germany, Financing Britain's war against Germany, training Allied troops to be used against Germany, escorting British ships and protecting them from subs, invading Iceland freeing up British troops and putting a kink in the German war effort, depth charging German submarines and more.

All this before December 1941. All this while FDR solemnly promised not to get involved in another European fiasco if re-elected. All this while the American public was overwhelmingly in favor of staying out of it. All this while FDR was finagling with Churchill to get us in.

Now if the fact checkers want to say we didn't officially get into the war before Dec 1941, I'd be OK with that. They won't though, they will say what you did.

John Henry; 9/26/16, 4:11 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: You are NOT an old lady. If you were, that would make me an old man and I am just a young fella.

LOL Thanks guys. You are only as old as you feel. I feel/think I'm 35. We are not old unless you make yourself old. Althouse, from her blog postings, has a very active life and is just a baby being almost a year younger than I :-)

My husband and I have a lot to do around here in certain times of the year (the plants, trees and fruit won't wait) and I really like keeping busy anyway. Heavy back breaking work, like serious pruning, digging out shrubs, we hire a nice young-ish man to do the heavy lifting. Keeping active is, IMO, a big part of staying healthy and young. My husband who is a year older than me, is a very active guy in his physically demanding job. Right now....he's taking a nap. /snicker That's the beauty of being self employed.

Anyone who is not seriously ill or who does not have some physical disabilities should easily be able to stand for a length of time. I just stood for about a half hour or more peeling the damned apples. You just pace yourself. Do a chore. Eat a snack. Do more stuff. Sit a bit and waste time on the internet. Get up and do some more. Set small goals. And set some rewards, like cocktail hour on the deck starting no sooner than 4:30.

The fact that Hillary can't stand or that her people are concerned about a standing engagement tells me that her health is more than just a passing concern. This is more than just a concern about a sick old lady (Hillary). It is scary to think that someone this infirm and very ill could be President in a job that ages a healthy person from a young guy into an old man.; 9/26/16, 4:31 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Anyone who is not seriously ill or who does not have some physical disabilities should easily be able to stand for a length of time.

DBQ, you have to remember that Hillary hasn't done a thing for herself in over 20 years. Reading her emails was an eye opener. She is apparently incapable of making herself a meal, a cup of tea, or even set the DVR to record a program. She may be willing to make herself a cocktail if Huma or another underling isn't around but I wouldn't bet my life on it. Despite her famous Yoga skills, Hillary's main exercise seems to consist of being moved around the country like a piece of furniture.; 9/26/16, 4:48 PM
Drago said...: machine: "WARNING: Drinking every time Trump lies during the debate could lead to alcohol poisoning and death"

Poor machine. He/she still believes that Hillary was dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.

Looks like that photo-shop of Hillary as Rambo will have to be returned after all.; 9/26/16, 5:16 PM
Jaq said...: machine believes that Hillary's deleted emails to Petraeus were about recipes and yoga classes.; 9/26/16, 6:52 PM