We’re off on a mission of national import!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Now they belong to the checkers: We’re off on a mission of nation import and won’t be posting again today.

That said, the fact-checking of Wednesday night’s speech by Bill Clinton really helps us see the state of our intellectual culture.

Here at THE HOWLER, we reviewed fact-checks by CNN and by WonkBlog. (Click here. Then click this.) Several others reviewed that amazing “fact-check” by the Associated Press.

For Kid Pareene’s treatment, click here.

Pareene’s scornful piece appears beneath these headlines:

Fact-check fail
The AP's moronic "fact check" of Bill Clinton's speech suggests the term is rapidly losing all meaning

We don’t disagree. But Sarah Kliff's fact-check at WonkBlog is just as important. And CNN's attempt at a fact-check was also a sad, epic fail.

CNN and the AP are two of the biggest names in American news. When they are functioning in such remarkable ways, it highlights a point we have made for some time: Our intellectual culture lies in tatters. Our journalists are almost completely inept. No one seems able to help.

The post by Kliff was equally significant. In her fact-check, a site which is supposed to represent the deep end of the liberal intellectual pool scored Bill Clinton’s remarks on Medicare as “false” and as an example of “double-counting.”

Especially in these budget matters, the liberal world has been tolerating or affirming right-wing disinformation for the bulk of the past forty years. Kliff’s multiply bungled analysis extends that disastrous culture.

Clinton’s presentation was right on the money—until our very smartest liberals decided they should chime in. Who needs truth-killers like Rush Limbaugh? We can turn light to darkness ourselves!

Our intellectual culture has lay in ruins for a good many years. Our journalists are completely inept. The professors are on vacation in France.

The groaning fact-checks of Clinton’s address re-established this point in a major way. You really can’t run a modern nation this way.

What’s a rich nation to do?

(We expect to post more on this topic over the weekend.)