The problem with fact-checkers is less their bias and more their incompetence ...
As an example, last week the following segment of Paul Ryan's RNC speech was fact-checked
"President Barack Obama, came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those are very tough days. And any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My own state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it. Especially in Janesville where we were about to lose a major factory. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that G.M. plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, ``I believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years.'' That's what he said in 2008.
"Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that's how it is in so many towns where the recovery that was promised is no where in sight."
The problem is that, while the fact checkers decided it wasn't accurate the transcript from Obama's Janesville speech is online and Paul Ryan's account is accurate
"And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President."
The problem is the fact checkers decided to take it upon themselves to check a statement Paul Ryan didn't make. They argued that Ryan claimed that the factory was closed as a result of Obama and demonstrated that it was already scheduled to be closed before Obama spoke there; something Ryan stated in his speech, and it had nothing to do with the point Ryan was trying to make (that Obama is full of empty promises).
