Lie of the Year

Politifact, the moderate to slightly right of center fact checking service, has come out with its lie of the year.  Donald Trump!  Not the person, really, although that would make sense, because everything about the man is a lie: he claims to be smart and self made.  Neither is true, although he's a pretty good salesman.  Politifact lists a large number of the near constant lies that Trump is making during his campaign.

This only the second time that Politifact has had an actual lie as their lie of a year two years in a row:

2015: Trump's lies
2014: The Ebola Scare.
2013: If you like your health care you can keep it.  (Had this been expressed "If you like your qualifying health care, you can keep it" it would have been true: the plans that were closed by ACA were fraudulent in some way.   In 2008, they had rated this same statement as true)
2012: Romney/Ryan completely false claims that Jeep was moving its factory to China
2011: Democrat's completely true statement that Republicans voted to end medicare as we know it.
2010: Republican's absurdly false claims that the ACA is a government takeover of healthcare.
2009: Republican's dangerously false claims about death panels.

Politifact has a problem.  90% of the lies told in the political sphere come out of republican mouths or pens.  Democrats and progressives lie sometimes too, but it's mostly hyperbole or simple mistakes.   If you examine the statements from left leaning sources that politifact rates as "Pants on Fire" or "False", you'll find that a lot of them are actually more like half true or figures of speech.

If politifact were to report this honestly, they would be pilloried by the right wing media.  So instead, they give the right a major pass.  They still end up showing that right lies far more than the left, but it comes out looking a lot more like balance, even though it's not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/campaign-stops/all-politicians-lie-some-lie-more-than-others.html

As an example, here are the 9 statements by Obama and his campaign that are rated pants on fire. 
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/pants-fire/

1: if you like your plan, you can keep it.  slight misstatement, basically true.
2: The FISA court is transparent.  Mostly false but politically necessary
3: claims Romney plans to fire Big Bird.  hyperbole, but essentially true.
4: claims Romney backed a bill that would block all abortions, including rape and incest.  sort of true.  Romney's support was more tacit than full-throated.
5: an Obama ad claims Gingrich, Perry and Romney would eliminate aid to Israel.  the only actual Pants on Fire I found.
6: claims that asking gov't departments to examine laws and consider getting rid of them if they don't make sense is unprecedented.  The essential claim is true, the unprecedentedness is Hyperbole.
7: claims the US is one of the biggest muslim countries in the world.  Half true.  US has between 2 and 6 million muslims.  that's not big compared to Indonesia or Pakistan, but it is compared to Abu Dhabi or Quatar. 
8: claims that 100% of McCains ads have been negative.   Politifact claims the number was closer to 75%.  Hyperbole.
9: claims McCain supported Limbaugh's comments about immigration.  McCain only partly supported them.  again, hyperbole about a claim with only a slight ring of truth in it.

Conversely, a lot of the statements rated true made by Republicans are trivial things.  Cruz says there are more words in the IRS code than in the bible.  Fiorina points out that Trump has changed his mind on abortion. Santorum says that 70% of Americans don't have a college degree.  All true, but do they of any consequence to the Republican message?