VOSD Overheard: On ‘Overly Literal’ Fact Checks

We recently put Republican mayoral candidate Kevin Faulconer’s claim that he’d “always” voted in line with the majority of San Diegans on ballot measures through the Fact Check wringer. Off topic, but incredibly important: Did anyone else think of this?

VOSD readers weren’t quite as breezy. At issue was whether Faulconer was specifically referring to city ballot measures in a recent op-ed he wrote for us, where he made the original claim (Lisa Halverstadt deemed it False.).

Check out some of the most interesting notes left on the story below.

“If the VOSD is taken seriously by politicians, they should all learn never to claim ‘always’ or ‘never’ or to use a specific number, and then the overly-literal FC pieces would disappear.” – David Cohen

“It certainly looks like Faulconer has a good handle on what San Diegan[s] want. There were a handful of times when his vote didn’t match up… big deal. … It must be a slow news day.” – Rick Dieterle

“…in his op-ed Kevin clearly inferred he was talking about local propositions. Maybe the VOSD thinks Kevin is writing based on Hemingway’s iceberg theory: ‘Write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.’ But, I don’t think Kevin was an English major.” – Brian Peterson

“Is it important to a leader to always be part of the herd? Is that leadership?” – Chris Brewster

“It’s hard to establish a bright line beyond support/did not support. Campaign/did not campaign seems like an attempt at saying ‘I supported it, but not enough to campaign for it. Therefore, I should not be held to the same standard.’” – Jason Everitt

“There’s something more interesting in this @sdfact report than the silly debate about if this deserved a false.” – @MeanestBossEver