Limbaugh Fabricates Wash. Post Fact Check To Cast Doubt On Romney's Outsourcing

Written by Emily Arrowood

Published

Today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that a Washington Post story on Bain Capital's investments in firms specializing in outsourcing was debunked by the Post's Fact Checker blog. But the fact-check Limbaugh mentioned was directed at a campaign ad, not the Post's own reporting.

On June 21, The Washington Post exposed Bain Capital's investments in companies “that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components,” which went on while Romney “was actively involved in” running the company. The Romney campaign sought a retraction of the story, but after Limbaugh's show ended, it was reported that the Post is standing by its story and will not retract it.

When he was discussing the Romney campaign's efforts to get the story retracted, Limbaugh incorrectly claimed that the story had been fact-checked by the Post's Glenn Kessler, and said the report on Bain Capital was “so inaccurate it's embarrassing”:

LIMBAUGH: This is from Dylan Byers at the Politico just now, about 45 minutes ago. Romney campaign representatives will meet with TheWarshington [sic] Post today to seek a formal retraction of its June 21 report that Bain Capital invested in firms that specialized in outsourcing American jobs.

[...]

Now, the Post's story -- they've got their own fact checker there, a guy named Glenn Kessler. And he gave his own paper's story four Pinocchios, which is the biggest -- the worst rating it can get for truth. Four Pinocchios -- four giant Pinocchios -- means this story is so inaccurate it's embarrassing. And so Romney is meeting -- his representatives are meeting with the Post today. They want a retraction.

But Limbaugh is wrong: Glenn Kessler did not fact-check the Washington Post's story on Bain Capital. Kessler's fact-checking post focused on a campaign ad that claimed Bain Capital engaged first-hand in the outsourcing of jobs. In contrast, the Post's story, which came out the day after the ad was posted online, reported and verified that Bain Capital invested in companies that facilitated outsourcing. There are no Washington Post Fact Checker stories about the Post's article on Bain Capital.

Researcher Kevin Zieber contributed to this post.