Politifact Investigates Scott Walker Sweater Purchase
“We rate the claim True.”
During a recent visit to New Hampshire, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said that he bought a sweater at Kohl’s department store for one dollar.
Politifact felt it was necessary to make sure the story was true:
Gov. Scott Walker says he bought a sweater for $1 at Kohl’s
When Gov. Scott Walker took his presidential ambitions to New Hampshire, he shared a penny-pinching story that would have been right at home in bargain-hunting Wisconsin.
At the center of the story: A new sweater, a dollar and Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s.
The department store chain is well known for its deep discounts — ones so deep that the company has faced legal challenges over its pricing practices in Kansas, Massachusetts and California. At issue in the California case, for instance, was complaints that the retailer listed “normal” prices for products but never sold them for that price.
Walker likes to point out that shortly after he was married, his wife, Tonette, was mortified because he didn’t know the drill at Kohl’s. In Concord, N.H., he told the crowd at a March 14, 2015 workshop about a “critical mistake” he made while shopping at a Kohl’s store…
Now, we grant this is not the most important topic in politics today. But we decided to fact check it for two reasons.
First, we heard from readers from around the country who thought it was an unbelievable story — as in, literally impossible to believe. Second, it goes to what has been a major theme of Walker’s visits to some of the early primary states — that he is just an average guy…
Based on photos of Walker in the sweater, it appears to be a “Chaps Twisted Button Mock Sweater” in a color called “walnut twist.” We couldn’t find that sweater available on the Kohl’s web site, so we visited the Kohl’s store in Glendale to paw through the clearance racks.
There we found plenty of Chaps sweaters marked between 80 and 90 percent off — an even deeper cut than the 70% Walker cited when describing the deal. Some of the sweaters we found were originally priced at $70 and marked down to $7.
Now, that’s not $1. But Walker did say he used his “Kohl’s Cash” — a coupon of sorts that is generated based on how much a customer purchased in an earlier visit to the store.
Thus, he could have easily gotten one for $1 out-of-pocket. We rate the claim True.
Whew! For a moment there, I was getting worried.
It’s a good thing we have Politifact to check out such important issues. I wonder if this recent report from FOX News has shown up on their radar?
Top State Department aide listed as Clinton Foundation director
Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department was listed as a director at the Clinton Foundation in its corporate records for more than three years after joining the administration, highlighting concerns that Clinton’s aides were too close to the foundation during her tenure.
The “William J. Clinton Foundation Corporation” named Cheryl Mills as one its three directors when it applied for nonprofit corporate status in Florida in June 2009-five months after Mills began serving as Clinton’s chief of staff and counsel at the State Department.
Who cares about conflicts of interest and corruption at the state department?
Scott Walker bought a sweater!
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Comments
I am going to give Politifact a pass on this one.
The reason is that during the Bush/Clinton contest, the media made sport of Bush for not knowing about scanners and how modern cashiers work.
They used this to show how out of touch he was with the mainstream.
Fact checking this only makes Walker look more like a real down to earth person and less like an elite snob.
And I am all for that.
Except that the “not knowing” was made up by the media, it was new type of scanner that read damaged bar codes.
The lack of Liberals’ self-awareness is another chink in their rusty rotted out armor.
That’s even more reason to Tea Party Like It’s 1773! 😉
It must be nice to live in an ivory tower. For the rest of us peasants, there are coupons, rewards, and a little nest egg built through labor and capital formation (i.e. savings).
Was it wool or a blend?
I smell a rat.
Since when does Politifact rate *anything* a Republican says with an unhedged “True.”
They routinely put out releases saying that while each and every specific fact a Republican made reference to is absolutely true, they’re giving it a “Half True or Mostly False” because those facts contradict liberal dogma, and the Republican failed to state facts that might undercut their point.
Example:
Politifact: “Debt increase under Obama: Ryan said Obama “has added more debt than any other president before him…One president, one term, $5 trillion in new debt.”
That figure, and claim, was on target. PolitiFact Ohio confirmed the numbers in a June 2012 fact check on a statement by Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, though the statement was rated Half True.
“Lost in that is the impact of the faltering economy, decisions made before Obama took office and the fact that others, such as Congress, also have had a role in increasing the debt,” the story concluded.