Fact Checkers Review First Night of DNC Convention
Fact Check, the original and in my view still most respected fact checking unit, found several misleading statements made by democratic speakers last night. 

Politifact, a newer fact checking unit but one that has franchised so that it also has local affiliates around the country able to check claims made about that area, did not find as many misleading statements.  Usually the two sites are much closer, so that gap is worth noting.  Having both conventions in play now invites a more probing analysis.

At the same time, the overall message is twofold.  First, the democrats stretched the truth.  Second, even the more harsh judgment above provides very clear evidence that, in comparing the two conventions, it is impossible to conclude anything close to equivalency.  One stretches; the other is removed from reality entirely.

This is just one night, but given the familiar strategy of letting the candidate stand above the mud slinging while others attack in his name, this is one clear sign of a meaningful difference in the two campaigns. 

One stretches and partisans on that side cannot be proud of the exaggerations, but in nearly every case after reading the fact checkers report these statements turn out to be arguable, if phrased in a way to seem obvious.  Last week, after reading the fact checkers reports that partisans could not be proud of, some fell in the same category while several core points, repeated over and over, were outright false, not arguable but rather the opposite of true.

I am reminded of an important analytical moment earlier in the campaign, when a pair of our most respected political analysts, from both sides of the aisle, concluded that it is fundamentally inaccurate and unfair to simply mouth the platitude 'both sides do it.'  At least in this case at this time in history.

Two of our most respected political analysts, one from the conservative American Enterprise Institute, do what they rarely do...argue that we cannot blame both parties for the mess we are in today. Since this type of analysis is an very real break with scholarly traditions, it is worth thinking about it carefully. 

They conclude that Republican behavior is very different from the traditional type of political tactics we see from the Democrats, it puts party before nation, it is an unloyal opposition that sees winning as failing to address the problems facing American families today.  After the first night, the comparison of the two parties as fact checked, leads again to this same, unsettling, conclusion.