PolitiFact has named the claim that Republicans voted to end Medicare a finalist for their "2011 Lie of the Year" award.

The only problem? Republicans did vote to end Medicare. Even PolitiFact conceded that Republicans voted to end Medicare "as we know it." But because Republicans would replace the Medicare that we know with another program that they also call Medicare, PolitiFact says they did not in fact vote to end Medicare.

As I wrote earlier this year:

According to their logic, if the FBI were replaced with a voucher program wherein citizens would receive subsidies for hiring private investigators to look into criminal activity, but the agency running the voucher program were still called the FBI, it would be unfair to say that the FBI had been ended.

Fact-checking is a laudable goal. Too bad PolitiFact isn't interested in pursuing it.