The Memey for “Worst Fact Check” goes to PolitiFact!
Some of you probably thought this award would go to the “debunking” of the CNN racist baby chyron, but that was too obvious, so instead I’m giving it to this March PolitiFact fact check that drinking fish-tank cleaner won't prevent COVID-19. A claim that virtually no one made. The only example they could find was an obscure local news headline from North Dakota, which didn't clarify the rather obvious fact that while chloroquine is an ingredient in fish tank cleaner, that doesn't mean you should ingest it. But no one was seriously suggesting substituting fish tank cleaner for prescription drugs.
And the cautionary tale of the man who died ingesting the fish tank cleaner was a...very fishy story. While police ultimately ruled the death an accident, friends reported the man as level headed and not prone to impulsivity, being a retired mechanical engineer with an extensive science background.
His wife, meanwhile, was described as "not well" by friends, and the marriage rocky and one-sided. She reportedly berated him in public constantly, destroyed his model airplane collection when he returned late for a meal, and was arrested for domestic assault when she swung a mounted birdhouse at him. The charges were later dropped when the husband testified on her behalf.
The wife had other red flags, like being on long-term disability from debilitating mental and physical health problems she claimed came from gender and age discrimination at her job at John Deere (she was in her 40s at the time). This followed another lawsuit against Cedar Valley Medical Clinic, when she was younger and claimed discrimination then for being a young girl. Her psychologist in the Deere trial claimed she had PTSD and was often angry and full of adrenaline.
This is the context to which the man, who was given the fish tank cleaner by his wife which contained 20X the treatment dose of chloroquine, should be viewed. At best, a questionable tragedy, and one that conveniently blamed Trump as the culprit for touting chloroquine. Which, of course, was the real reason for the fact check, like so many others. Not to debunk a real claim, but to dunk on Trump.
Runners-up in the comments.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/24/blog-posting/drinking-chloroquine-fish-tank-cleaner-wont-stop-c/
https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/death-of-arizona-man-from-chloroquine-ruled-an-accident/
Stay tuned for more Memey Awards, they run until the end of the year. For a complete list of the 2020 Memeys (updated in real time):
http://memepoliceman.com/the-2020-memeys/
Just incredible. After posting a meme blaming Charlie Kirk for his own murder, they post another a few hours later applauding Democrats for their civility.
Also, if you look at the Occupy Democrats timeline, their posts “denouncing political violence” were variations on “no one should be shot…BUT here’s a quote from Kirk showing he’s a terrible person.” Or sometimes they’d leave the first part out altogether and just attack him. There are no posts denouncing violence without qualifiers trying to gin up their base.
