It may be the truth for some in Travis County ... but it registered otherwise on the Austin American Statesman's "Truth-O-Meter," with help from Midland's newspaper, and Midland's college.
The "Truth-O-Meter" is a daily fact-checking feature powered by politifact.com and the Austin American Statesman, and appears locally on the op-ed page of mywesttexas.com
"Sweeping statements oft fuel fact checks," the T-O-M-Texas home page explains. "As fact-checkers, we sit up especially straight when someone connected to Texas politics makes a flat-out claim. Absolutes seem to holler for review."
Such as the statement from Andy Brown - chairman of the Travis County Democrats, and past executive director of the 21st Century Democrats in Texas - who said nobody in higher education believes Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to "serve up $10,000 college degrees" is possible. Brown was harldy alone in his opinion ... but it was his statement that provided the spur for T-O-M's analysis - an analysis that concluded, "We rate Brown’s statement False."
That analysis included the following ... "Catherine Frazier, Perry’s deputy press secretary, pointed out a Feb. 10 news article in the Midland Reporter-Telegram describing Midland College’s applied technology bachelor’s degree, which the article says can be earned for about $10,000."
And in an ironic twist on the subject that prompted the original, tested statement, Truth-O-Meter noted that the MRT's article also reported that MC's BAT program might not be funded in the next state budget.
Sheesh ...
Anyway, a hat-tip to the Midland Reporter-Telegram for the part they played in holding the feet of at least one political pundit to the factual fire. I hope they will continue to include the Truth-O-Meter feature on their website.
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