The first set of comments, addressed to Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), was contained in a clip from a Senate hearing that
went viral on Twitter. Her remarks caught our attention because they seemed similar to remarks made by President Biden about a new Georgia election law that had
earned him Four Pinocchios.
In fact, when our fact check was cited during the hearing by a Republican senator, Abrams suggested that the Fact Checker misunderstood the situation. That’s when she made the second set of comments above. That really caught our attention.
We ended up having an extended back-and-forth with Seth Bringman, a spokesman for Abrams, over the matter. Abrams’s language is more carefully phrased than what Biden said, but we still conclude it is misleading.
The Pinocchio Test
This is a good example of how different phrasing can change the Pinocchio count. Abrams tried to make the same general point as Biden, but she did it more artfully, especially in the clip that went viral. She made clear that she was talking about early-voting rules and she used words such as “may,” “optional” and “can,” avoiding the certitude of Biden’s statements.
At the same time, Abrams leaves the impression that the previous hours were 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and avoids saying the previous law had a vague “normal business hours” standard that sometimes meant even less than 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For ordinary people not attuned to the debate over the Georgia law, her language misleadingly implies that voting is restricted to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., especially when she says the law “eliminates hours of voting.”
Result:
Two Pinocchios
Significant omissions and/or exaggerations. Some factual error may be involved but not necessarily. A politician can create a false, misleading impression by playing with words and using legalistic language that means little to ordinary people. (Similar to "half true.")
Related
Okie dokes
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