Yes, in a way. But I don't think in this case it matters that much. It's like saying: hey, look at that politician, he smoked weed in college, now this is supposed to undermine his overall credibility. Who cares.
The lack of fact-based critical thinking is precisely what causes things like the 2008 financial crisis. If an argument is riddled with factual errors I cannot give any faith in its conclusion even if I am generally supportive of them.
Your politician's college was a long time ago, he as a man would have had time to change. The article's mistakes are right now; there's little reason to believe the sloppy fact checking improves right between the first paragraph and the second.