Subtle and not-so-subtle referees

Factcheck.org was made famous in the previous presidential elections, cited often by both sides as some sort of independent arbiter of campaign claims and counter-claims.

I beg to differ.  Factcheck obviously bends over backwards in sometimes ridiculous attempts to show that both sides lie and distort the facts.  But there are big differences between the lies of the Obama campaign and the sometimes arguable rhetoric of Romney's.

Since they think they must show balance by documenting lies and distortions on both sides, the impression they're going for with their readers is that both sides are liars to some degree or another.  I think that's the strategy used by their fact-checkers who carefully construct their stories to ultimately benefit Obama.

Let's look at one example - Obamacare.

Factcheck says Obama fibbed when he promised Americans can keep their existing plans (ya think?)

But to achieve balance, they accuse Romney of misleading people by claiming that Obamacare will come between the patient and his/her doctor.  They spin like a top in trying to convince the reader that ObamaCare's "Advisory Board" isn't at all going to resemble Sarah Palin's "Death Panel".  Plus they're saying the only thing coming between us and our doctors is going to be the Insurance Company, as if that's going to be the only obstacle between us and the care we may actually need.

I think it's comical how Factcheck can't seem to make the linkage between the insurance companies and the advisory board and the obvious logical extension that the ultimate reason we might be denied the care we need is because our insurance company refuses to cover it because the advisory board told them not to cover it.

So where exactly is Romney's lie in saying, "And perhaps most troubling of all, Obamacare puts the federal government between you and your doctor".

Nearly every example on the website has a similar analysis that can be applied.  The reality is that most of the Obama lies and distortions are truly lies and distortions, while most of the Romney accused lies and distortions are easily argued as truth or at least much less egregious cases of campaign rhetoric or overstatement.

In politics, both sides are definitively not equal when it comes to lies.