Well, I just suspected it before, but now I see it in truth. Snopes, known for its myth-busting abilities, has been blatantly “fact-checking” for Obama and McCain rumors. Trying to verify stories about McCain, Snopes has recently posted articles about what McCain considered rich and whether or not he was a true U.S. citizen, eligible to run as President of the United States because of where he was born.

Let’s start with McCain’s “eligibility” to run article:

The Natural
Claim: John McCain does not qualify as a natural-born citizen of the U.S. because he was born in Panama.

Status: Undetermined.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2008]

“I am hearing talk that Senator John McCain is not eligible to be President of the United States because he is not a natural-born citizen.”

Hmmm… didn’t they get the memo about the Panama Canal’s military installation constituting a U.S. Territory? How ridiculous is this?

Okay, so let’s move along. Next on the list in my weekly Snopes update email is whether or not Obama said he’d been to 57 states. Guess what Snopes said about that?

57 States
Claim: During a campaign stop, Barack Obama said that he had visited “fifty-seven states.”

Status: Multiple — see below.

I dunno about you, but my ears heard “57 states” over and over and over. But Snopes, eh, not so sure. According to Snopes, it really needed no further investigation, because it was obvious to them that it was easy to discern Obama’s intent:

“The actual intent behind Senator Obama’s misstatement is easy to discern without the need to invoke an obscure international organization. He was trying to express the thought that in all the time he had spent on the campaign trail so far in 2007-08, he had visited all (48) of the states in the continental U.S. save for one (i.e., “one left to go,” excluding Alaska and Hawaii), but in his weariness he slipped up and started off with “fifty” instead of “forty.” (Note the long pause in the video clip between the words “fifty” and “seven.”)

Yeah….right.

So today, in my Snopes email update, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. The latest “myth” to debunk was a questioner wondering whether McCain thinks being rich starts at $5 million. What do you think Snopes said about that? Hmmm… let’s see:

The Five Million Dollar Man
Claim: John McCain said he would define the income level that divides the middle class from the rich as $5 million.

Status: True.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, September 2008]

“I have heard many times that John McCain said (paraphrasing his comment, I’m sure) that the middle class includes people who make under $5 million. I am trying to find that IN PRINT to forward to relatives who say it is untrue.”

Even though later in the article they post the partial transcript where he says it, laughs, and then says it will probably be used against him, the status according to them is “true.” *sigh*

It’s official. After today I no longer believe anything that Snopes “debunks.” They are clearly in the tank for Obama. They should change their name from Snopes to Dopes.