Always Check Your Facts

Many of the things I have discovered while listening to Hannity, Beck, Holmes, Maddow and others, is to not take what they say for the truth. Always check out their information, most if not all will give citations either on their Web site or in the show transcripts.

It is really easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment. Information comes fast and furious these days, especially today with Twitter and Facebook. I almost fell into the spiral of Internet rumors myself.

Michele Bachmann and the truth factor

It was over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when getting someone in an office either by phone or email is not an easy task. I read an article by Alan Colmes, Questions about accuracy of Michele Bachmann’s bio in which he accused Bachmann of falsely claiming an LL.M. degree in tax from William and Mary in her bio. Michele Bachmann’s biography can be found at scroll down to the second to last paragraph. I right away sent out a message to all the social media streams regarding this information, but also adding that I was not sure if William & Mary’s Masters of Tax Law was the same as receiving an LL.M. degree. Knowing not to rely on what the pundits say, on Monday morning I emailed William & Mary with my question. I did not mention Michelle Bachmann or her degree and the controversy.

I received a reply rather quickly from the associate dean that William & Mary did offer an LL.M. in Taxation degree from the mid-50′s to the mid-90′s. By they way, she did have an idea I was asking about the Bachmann incident, even though I didn’t come out and say so.