Ann Coulter never met an incongruity or contradiction she didn’t embrace. In her 2002 book Slander, the conservative commentator rails against The New York Times for its misinformation and wanton liberal bias on 198 of the book’s 261 pages. “The Times regularly interprets standard Republican positions as fanatical, religiously based racist hate crimes,” Coulter writes. But take a close look at the top of the...

That’s how Glenn Beck described himself on Fox and Friends (Aug. 29) in his kind-of, sort-of take-back of calling President Obama “a racist,” with “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” on that same program last year. Beck’s trenchant self-analysis comes more than a year later and a day after his evangelistic “Restoring Honor” revival on the steps of the Lincoln...

There’s a signature moment in the 1976 film Network in which a drunk and dispirited Howard Beale who – after losing his news anchor job – abandons his script, looks straight into the camera and, in an astounding bit of prescience, begins his sermon from the mount. “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. …It’s like...

It’s interesting to note that the recent incarnation of the Tea Party bears little similarity to the original activists of 1773 and that supporters who carry the flag, “Don’t Tread on Me,” are using it in an historically, inaccurate context. The original Tea Party was a first response protest by Boston colonists protesting Britain’s Tea Act – a tax levied...

Clearly, the most contentious issue facing the country in the last 18 months has been health care reform.  While a majority of people believe that reform is necessary, the details of that reform have driven most to distraction. PolitiFact.com is a collective of reporters and researchers for the St. Petersburg Times whose purpose is to “find the truth in politics” by examining “statements by members...

Franklin Roosevelt once offered this piece of advice about giving a speech: “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Okay, here it goes. Ladies and Gentlemen of Congress, The American people are sick and tired of hearing excuses for your lack of effectively working together. They’re tired of listening to the arrogant sound bites at “impromptu” press conferences. You were not...

In 1940, journalist Edward R. Murrow stood in a church in England while the country endured German bombers night after night. Inside the church was a crudely written sign which read, “If your knees knock, kneel on them.” I don’t know about you, but my knees have been knocking a lot over the last several months. Within the last year,...

Hold on to your hats, folks, I’m getting ready to be brilliant. I have the answer to the health care debate.  No, really! Last Saturday, the House narrowly passed its version of health care reform.  Now, we all hold our breath as it goes to the Senate and then back to the House and… let’s skip past all the parsing...

Whenever I’ve had a question about health care, or check up on President Obama’s progress; whenever I want to get the straight dope about people, pundits and policy issues, I pay a visit to PolitiFact.com. Who is PolitiFact? PolitiFact is a site owned and operated by The St. Petersburg Times  whose purpose is to help anyone,  » Read more about: Who is PolitiFact and Can They...

“You are trampling on our constitution,” Craig Miller shouted at Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector last Tuesday. “This is about the dismantling of this country,” Katy Abram added. “They are talking about killing people,” said Laurel Tobias. The question that kept coming up for me was, WHY. Why are people so angry? Why are so many lashing out, like never before, at...