Question whether "Pants on Fire" and Pinocchio "Growing Nose" are appropriate images

AROUND THE BLOCK

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Rubio/Trump hand size issue takes new turn

Fact checkers face reporting quandary

As has been reported to the point of “when are they going to stop this and start talking about the issues,” the Marco Rubio “size of Donald’s hands” put down has taken a new turn.

To review, last week Rubio speculated that presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is 6’2”, has abnormally small hands for a man of that size, saying, “You know what they say about men with small hands … you can’t trust 'em!”

Trump, not one to take an insult lightly responded, "Look at those hands, are they small hands?" going on to say, "And, he referred to my hands -- 'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee."

But now Around The Block has learned, as part of their pledges to vet all statements of presidential candidates this campaign season, PolitiFact and the Washington Post fact checking departments are vying for the right to verify Trump’s guarantee about there being no problem about something else being small. 

At issue, given the fact that must be checked, is whether either fact checker’s veracity scale is appropriate for this kind of fact checking.

PolitiFact uses a six-point scale ranging “True” down to “Pants on Fire” false. There is some debate as to whether, if Trump’s guarantee is totally false, “Pants on Fire” is the right reference given where this fact checking must take place.

The Washington Post’s scale employs an image of Pinocchio, the fabled little boy whose nose grew bigger as his lying increased. While the Post’s Pinocchio imagery uses a different part of the male anatomy to visualize the degree of untruthfulness, there is a question as to whether a growing body protuberance is a suitable image in this case. 

Trump, for his part, is not concerned about fact checkers. Recalling his put down of Hillary Clinton last year when he said, regarding her loss to Barack Obama in 2008, "She was favored to win, and she got schlonged," Trump went on to say, "I am happy to accommodate any and all fact checkers because when it comes to schlongs, nobody can out-schlong Donald Trump. Guaranteed.”