Grading PolitiFact: If only Newt Gingrich had been "artful" like Obama

Truth-O-Meter, Flip-O-Meter. Might as well use a dousing rod.

PolitiFact somehow caught word that Keith Olbermann thinks that Newt Gingrich is a hypocrite. But this is not a situation where Keith Olbermann will get rated regarding the truth of his statement. Rather, it is time to judge Newt Gingrich.

To make the long story short, PolitiFact finds Gingrich guilty of a half flip.

But I wondered what the rating would have been if PolitiFact considered Gingrich to be "artful" as with Barack Obama?

Writer-researcher Angie Drobnic Holan took Gingrich's statements on China and political dissidents as absolute statements. And here is what Gingrich said:

Republican leaders made explicitly clear our unwavering commitment to human rights and individual liberty. I believe it was vitally important that we used this opportunity to address the basic lack of freedom -- speech, liberty, assembly, the press -- in China. ... As I said in China this spring, there is no place for abuse in what must be considered the family of man. There is no place for torture and arbitrary detention. There is no place for forced confessions. There is no place for intolerance of dissent.

Now, of course it is Gingrich talking and Gingrich is a mere Republican. But just imagine that gifted orator Barack Obama is the one talking.

I think once we do that, it becomes possible to see that the subject was really the political situation in China ("the basic lack of freedom ... in China"). Hmmm. Surely Obama is talking about civil society and not war and international relations, in spite of the "no place for torture and arbitrary detention" remarks? After all, Obama (for the sake of argument) artfully stipulated that he was talking about "what must be considered the family of man" in the context of politics and civil society.

But obviously Gingrich is not artful like Obama, so this entire post of mine is surely a waste of time. Gingrich might as well be every bit the hypocrite that Olbermann claims.

But just one more thing:

Mr. Gingrich chose Hong Kong as his platform to warn Chinese leaders that attempts to confine freedom to economic issues while refusing to allow it in politics would surely fail. He referred explicitly to ''the lack of basic freedom -- speech, religion, assembly, the press'' in China today. The Speaker maintained this same blunt tone in his talks with Chinese leaders. It would not be a bad idea if Administration officials adopted the same straight-speaking approach.
(The New York Times)

The Grade:

PolitiFact: D-

I'm skipping the individual grades this time in favor of a corporate grade, though I suppose I'll simply mention that Angie Drobnic Holan and Bill Adair worked on this piece. This PolitiFact entry, in conjunction with a recent one about Michelle Bachmann, suggests that this fact-checking organization takes its cues from the left. Why is Keith Olberamann on the PolitiFact radar? Why did Michelle Bachmann's comments on a relatively obscure Internet television channel (PJTV) cause a blip? And why is there relatively little interest in big politics, like artful Obama's recent speech? The one where the president apparently made up some history on Winston Churchill?