The Media Research Center continues its politically motivated and desperate “fact-checking the fact-checkers” campaign — which might be more meaningful if MRC was concerned about fact-checking itself first — with a May 29 post by Tim Graham ranting about a New York Times fact-check that accurately pointed out that Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats were not defending the violent gang MS-13 by pointing out that they are humans and not animals,as President Trump apparently claimed.
Graham grumbled that the Times fact-checker “sounded like Pelosi’s press secretary on the MS-13 charge. Pelosi says murderous gang members have a ‘spark of divinity, dignity and worth,’ but somehow that’s not to be interpreted as defending gangsters?”Well, no, Tim. Pelosi did not deny that MS-13 are a bunch of violent thugs and did not defend or justify any MS-13 crime — the textbook definition of “defending” a group.
Graham then complained that the fact-check accurately pointed out that because Trump phrased his “animals” comment ambiguously “he left room for interpretation,” huffing:
This is why people criticize “fact checks.” This is an interpretation check. You suggest that it’s fair for Pelosi to “interpret broadly,” and “FALSE” when Trump “interprets broadly” in return. To claim “Democrats have been precise” in exaggerating Trump’s comments beyond MS-13 to all “immigrants” is to sound like a paid spokesman for the Democrats.
Here, Graham gives away his biased game. He’s the one doing an “interpretation check” — he has decided that Trump’s words are unambiguous despite the evidence to the contrary, and that an after-the-fact CYA statement by the White House press office is the final word on what Trump allegedly meant to say. In Graham’s eyes, anyone who accurately points out that what he said is different from what he may have meant is somehow lying.
Because the Times fact-check sticks to facts and doesn’t bend to Graham’s biased, reflexive defense of Trump, he rates it “deeply distorted.” He’s really talking about himself — and he’s sounding like a paid spokesman for Trump.