Ignorant Politicans
Gaffes, lies, and dumb mistakes—which politicians spread falsehoods? From Palin to Bachmann to Biden, The Daily Beast ranks the country’s 10 most ill-informed leaders.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
U.S. Representative
Total checked statements: 19
True: 0
Mostly true: 0
Half true: 2
Barely true: 3
False: 8
Pants on fire: 6
Egregious falsehood: In the '70s, "the swine flu broke out... under another Democrat, President Jimmy Carter."
—
politifact.com
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Former RNC Chairman
Total checked statements: 8
True: 4
Mostly true: 0
Half true: 1
Barely true: 0
False: 1
Pants on fire: 2
Egregious falsehood: "You and I know that in the history of mankind and womankind, government—federal, state, local, or otherwise—has never created one job."—
politifact.com
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo
Former DNC Chairman
Total checked statements: 6
True: 1
Mostly true: 1
Half true: 1
Barely true: 0
False: 3
Pants on fire: 0
Egregious falsehood: "Every other democracy in the world has a health-care system that covers everybody, and we don't."—
politifact.com
Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo
Former Republican Governor, Alaska
Total checked statements: 45
True: 10
Mostly true: 6
Half true: 7
Barely true: 6
False: 12
Pants on fire: 4
Egregious falsehood: The disabled and seniors "will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care."—
politifact.com
AP Photo
U.S. Representative
Total checked statements: 7
True: 1
Mostly true: 0
Half true: 2
Barely true: 3
False: 0
Pants on fire: 1
Egregious falsehood: Regarding the collective-bargaining debate in Wisconsin, Ryan claimed the disagreements had led to "riots"... "It's like Cairo has moved to Madison these days."—
politifact.com
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
House Minority Leader
Total checked statements: 14
True: 1
Mostly true: 2
Half true: 6
Barely true: 2
False: 2
Pants on fire: 1
Egregious falsehood: "We were not, I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used."—
politifact.com
Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
Senate Majority Leader
Total checked statements: 10
True: 2
Mostly true: 1
Half true: 3
Barely true: 1
False: 3
Pants on fire: 0
Egregious falsehood: "We have solved the problem.... Scientists are now saying leave the nuclear waste where it is."—
politifact.com
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
Senate Minority Leader
Total checked statements: 10
True: 2
Mostly true: 2
Half true: 2
Barely true: 1
False: 3
Pants on fire: 0
Egregious falsehood: Updated financial regulation "actually guarantees future bailouts of Wall Street banks."—
politifact.com
Chuck Burton / AP Photo
Speaker of the House
Total checked statements: 37
True: 14
Mostly true: 3
Half true: 3
Barely true: 5
False: 12
Pants on fire: 0
Egregious falsehood: "This is the first time since the Depression that unemployment has stayed above 9 percent for two consecutive years."—
politifact.com
Tom Williams / Roll Call / Getty Images
Vice President
Total checked statements: 44
True: 10
Mostly true: 8
Half true: 10
Barely true: 8
False: 5
Pants on fire: 3
Egregious falsehood: "In the 1990s, the Biden Crime Bill added 100,000 cops to America's streets. As a result, murder and violent-crime rates went down eight years in a row."—
politifact.com
See the ranking methodology
here.
AP Photo
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.