When it comes to President Joe Biden's claims that election integrity laws being passed or considered in Republican states are worse than Jim Crow, I've mentioned how he repeats the lies that won't just die. Perhaps no Democrat has a worse habit of repeating lies, though, including and especially after they've been fact-checked, than Terry McAuliffe who was elected the governor of Virginia in 2013 and is running for another term.
As we have covered multiple times at Townhall, McAuliffe has yet to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2000 presidential election. One of the first things he did as the head of the DNC, then, was dispute the results, which he again disputed when campaigning in 2004.
The hypocrisy never ends with Terry McAuliffe.
— Team Youngkin (@TeamYoungkin) July 28, 2021
In 2001, the first thing McAuliffe did as DNC chairman was challenge the legitimacy of the president, claim the election was stolen AND accuse the Supreme Court of “tampering” with the results.
Roll tape: pic.twitter.com/Rqv5uInsaB
Not only does McAuliffe deny the election results of the 2000 election, he falsely claims that his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin did so when it comes to the 2020 presidential election.
Youngkin has said during multiple media interviews, including for Guy's radio program, that Biden "won the election" and that "he's our president" and that "the reality is, the media's fascination with this is part of Terry McAuliffe's tired rhetoric."
This tweet came not long at all after Reagan and I covered McAuliffe's election denying claims.
Glenn Youngkin is supported by insurrectionists and conspiracy theorists.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) July 30, 2021
He continues to feed dangerous lies about the 2020 election.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
On Sunday, McAuliffe tweeted something else though, again, despite having been fact-checked on the claim three times.
When I took office in 2014, we inherited an economy in crisis.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) August 1, 2021
By the end of my term, we created 200K new jobs, started 1,100 new economic development projects, announced $20 billion in new capital, raised personal income 14%, and lowered unemployment in every city and county.
In a June 15, 2021 fact-check for PolitiFact, Warren Fiske does not mince words as he hits McAuliffe for a June 10, 2021 tweet claiming "I inherited the largest budget deficit in the history of the state from the Republicans."
Fiske wrote highlighted how "Terry McAuliffe keeps repeating bogus budget claim" and that "Former and possibly future Gov. Terry McAuliffe keeps telling it wrong."
In reality, Fiske, explains, McAuliffe inherited two balanced budgets, though economic concerns emerged due to federal policies.
As Fiske concluded:
In fact, he inherited two balanced budgets from his predecessor and then, in the first months of his governorship, saw state revenues shrink because of federal policies. In addition, the revenue shortfalls that ensued were not the largest budget gaps in state history.
After repeatedly being called out by fact-checking on this claim over several years, McAuliffe should know better. Yet he keeps repeating it in his current campaign. We rate his statement Pants on Fire!
Fiske points to six incidents in which McAuliffe has made that claim, just in 2021.
After repeatedly being called out by fact-checking on this claim over several years, McAuliffe should know better. Yet he keeps repeating it in his current campaign. https://t.co/KxzGEdyfQB #vagov https://t.co/eqXFnAgsdM
— Christian Martinez (@C_RMartinez) August 1, 2021
Glenn Kessler in a June 14, 2021 fact-check with The Washington Post was also not kind. He pointed to three incidents, made in just a matter of days, where McAuliffe made this false claim.
As Kessler wrote:
There’s a big problem with this claim: It has been fact-checked as false not once but three times by our colleagues at PolitiFact. In 2015 and 2019, PolitiFact dinged McAuliffe for saying he inherited a budget deficit from the Republicans. In 2015, PolitiFact also faulted him for saying it was the biggest budget deficit ever — a statement that his spokesman at the time explained as an inadvertent flub.
“When you talk to the public all day, sometimes you have a slip of the tongue,” the spokesman said.
Well, McAuliffe’s tongue has been slipping a lot lately. He has ventured into recidivism.
When it comes to his claims about the deficit:
Note, however, that McAuliffe has been claiming he “inherited” a deficit. Instead, he inherited a balanced budget — and then faced a deteriorating financial picture that got worse over time.
...
Economic forecasting is a tricky business. One could argue that McDonnell may have been too optimistic at the end of 2013 and McAuliffe was too pessimistic midway through 2014. But you cannot say McDonnell left behind a budget deficit.
As Kessler explained when giving his rating:
McAuliffe did not inherit a budget deficit from his Republican predecessor. Moreover, the budget gap was not the largest in Virginia history.
McAuliffe could have touted how he handled a budget gap he faced early in his tenure without pinning the blame on Republicans or making grandiose claims about its size. Instead, he chose to double down on claims already fact-checked as false. McAuliffe even repeats a false claim that a previous McAuliffe spokesman had acknowledged was wrong but explained that McAuliffe simply misspoke. So McAuliffe has little excuse to repeat it over and over again.
McAuliffe earns Four Pinocchios.
It's no wonder then, that Biden and McAuliffe would be such buddies. As I covered last weekend, Biden spoke in support of McAuliffe at a campaign rally in Arlington.
As was reported by Scott McCaffrey of the Arlington Sun Gazette, members of Arlington's Office of Early Childhood Education tweeted their presence at the rally and support for McAuliffe in a tweet from their account, which has since been deleted.
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