The original PolitiFact names the 2010 lie of the year: Government takeover of health care.
That may come as news to the Wisconsin PolitiFact franchise at the Journal Sentinel, which sometimes thought that claim was false but had a spotty record when it came to calling Wisconsin Republicans on it.
In October, the JS version of PolitiFact looked at a Ron Johnson TV commercial :
In a new TV ad, Johnson charges that Feingold ignored public opinion by voting in March for sweeping health care changes backed by President Barack Obama and Democrats. The topic is a rallying point in many GOP campaigns across the country.
"A majority of Wisconsinites opposed the government takeover of health care," the ad says, as statistics from an opinion poll pop up. "But Russ Feingold voted for it anyway. Feingold had a choice to make. The official Congressional Record shows Feingold toed the party line, instead of listening to us."
Missing the forest, as usual, by carefully examining the trees, the JS concluded that Johnson's ad was false -- because there was no polling showing that a majority of people in Wisconsin opposed the health care reform bill.
The newpaper, however, did not even consider Johnson's claim that Feingold voted for "government takeover of health care."
That not only was a pants-on-fire lie, it was the Lie of theYear.
A week later, the JS reviewed the Rebecca Kleefisch spot claiming Tom Barrett supports government takeover of health care, and said what it neglected to even consider in the RoJo adL
Leaving aside, for the moment, whether Barrett supports all or some of those reforms, PolitiFact National and its state affiliates have ruled repeatedly on the government takeover charge and found it ridiculously false -- a Pants on Fire. In truth, the health care law creates a market-based system that relies on private health insurance companies.
Scott Walker said it, too but got away with it.
And if you do the Google a little I think you'll find a lot of other GOP candidates in the state who told the whopper, too. Sean Duffy, for example.
Hat tip:Motley Cow.