In an Oct. 4 MRC item, Kyle Drennen was annoyed that NBC’s David Gregory pointed out to Rpmney adviser Ed Gillespie that “the math simply doesn’t add up” in Mitt Romney’s tax cut plan. Drennen then declared that “Gillespie fact-checked Gregory’s supposed fact-check” by claiming that “six studies now that have analyzed what Governor Romney has proposed in terms of lowering tax rates and expanding the base.”
But Drennen did not fact-check Gillespie’s “six studies” claim — which appears to be bogus. It’s an apparent embellishment of a previous Romney claim that “five studies” back up Romney’s claim about his tax plan. But as PolitiFact discovered:
Romney is using the word “studies” generously. Two items on his list are newspaper editorials that can be analytical but are rarely treated as independent research. One article comes from a campaign adviser, a connection that generally suggests a less than independent assessment. That leaves just two reports out Romney’s five.
Gillespie was merely spouting campaign rhetoric, which Drennen presented as a “fact-check.” Not exactly telling the truth, is he?