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Obama LIED to us in order to push his merit pay/charter school agenda
In his recent speech on the state of the US education, President Obama made up statistics and trends in order to create the impression that our teachers have been doing such a terrible job lately that we need merit pay and charter school, among other changes.
But today we learn the following from the independent Factcheck.org website:
The President told us that the drop-out rate in our high schools has tripled during the last 30 years. But...
Factcheck.org (March 18, 2009): The high school dropout rate hasn't "tripled in the past 30 years," as Obama claimed. According to the Department of Education, it has actually declined by a third.
Now to the lie on trends: Mr. Obama told us that our 8th grade kids have fallen to 9th place in math. Come again?
Factcheck.org (March 18, 2009): Eighth-grade math scores haven't "fallen" to ninth place compared with other countries. U.S. scores have climbed to that ranking from as low as 28th place in 1995.
This is not the first time Obama's awful fabrications and spins during the speech in question have been pointed out. The Huffington Post carried an expert's opinion asserting that Obama blew it, and Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler likewise corrected him.
On a related note, David Brooks loved Obama's speech and his educational agenda.
Mr. President: If you want to sell your shiny new proposals, base your arguments on reality, not bullshit.
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Damn. Those are some pretty major ...uuhhh... discrepancies. Obama's having a rough week.
I didn't get the impression I liked his education stance much in the election ... and when he chose Duncan it pretty much confirmed what I figured his views were. But I didn't think Obama would flat out BS to push his agenda. Not so much because I think he's above it, but because he always seemed savvy enough to realize stupid crap like this would always get caught.
It isn't really his usual style (he's pretty good at protecting his flanks). I wonder where he pulled those statistics from - or if they were provided to him from somewhere. I don't know what's worse: the thought he'd willfully state incorrect facts, or that his information chain could allow such erroneous information to be used in his decision making processes.
March 18, 2009 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps the guy made a mistake, or spun too hard this time. If so, he should be called out on it, so good job.
But the tone of your post, calling the President a CAPITAL LETTERS LIAR, and a bullshitter, it's just slightly over the top for me. It also makes me less inclined to pay any attention to you. Maybe that's just me though. Who knows.
March 18, 2009 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
truthseeker/kingsbridge has been on the wrong side of quite a few debunked PUMA conspiracy theories. It's nice that he's found a valid argument here, but the over-the-top tone is more the consequence of someone who has looked long and hard to find something solid to pin their fanatical rage to. It's like the criminal prosecutor whose case against someone is shown to bullshit so he finds some scrap of justificatory self-affirmation in an unpaid parking ticket. Pretty sad altogether.
March 19, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
"It's nice that he's found a valid argument here,"
...even that is a matter of opinion. Seems like much ado about nothing. This blog post has more spin in it than Obama's words, by a long shot.
And, as usual, the criticism is both selective and partisan. I'm glad Josh is willing to let anyone post a blog here, but they shouldn't assume they have convinced anyone of anything just because it gets some comments.
This isn't even comparing apples to oranges, it's more like comparing apples to cranberries. But, obviously, they'll take the crumbs if they can't have the whole loaf.
March 19, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
After reading the entire fact check article, I'm more incline to say, he cherry picked his data to fit his agenda. Seems to be a national growing trend.
Since I believe in spending money to help achieve a better education for our kids, I'm incline to let this one slide and expect him to be more careful next time out.
March 19, 2009 8:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
National growing trend? This has gone on for an extremely long time and is done by EVERYONE including the author of this blog - in order to support their argument that Obama is a bullshitter.
March 19, 2009 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree but I was trying to follow the rules of "blog" engagement and be nice. I guess sometimes, it's better to call it the way it really is. Thanks:)
March 19, 2009 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
First rule of blog engagement: there are no rules.
Anyone who tells you different is a damn fool :-).
March 19, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh yeah? Well you're a fool for saying there's no rules! Howyalike that?
Okay, not really. But everyone else was getting all ad hominy and attacky and I was feeling left out.
March 19, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really? My read on the factcheck article was that Obama was simply dead wrong. He said we declined where we improved. That's not cherry picking - that's saying something 100% in opposition to reality.
I'll agree that this particular poster is carrying grudges from the election, but those are the sort who will keep our new president honest. I'm also willing to chalk it up to "he'll do better next time" - but I do think it's fair to insist that he acknowledge he got it wrong before I'm willing to accept that he's making policy from a position of accurate facts. Those were some pretty glaring mistakes.
Deep thought: would you have let this slide if it were Bush?
March 19, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like the, there are no rules mantra but dayum, it can really get under the skin of others. Maybe that's the point, eh?....hahahahaha
How about this, he cherry picked facts and then left facts out. A lie of omission is still a lie. Can we agree on that?
I guess my point, some lies simply don't bother me all that much. This is one of them, especially since the President doesn't seem to be consistent in his lies. Not to mention, he may not have been the one to hand pick the facts. If called out, I would hope he owns up to it. We shall see.
March 19, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. He did not cherry-pick facts, because the source that he chose spoke about percentage of 9th and 10 grade kids who flunked, not "dropout rate".
The article says it.
March 19, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I truly believe this man has the country's best interest at heart. If I'm wrong heaven help us all but for eight years we were told lies that didn't do one dayum thing to benefit 90% of the working class.
So the new President lies about some stupid numbers to help get funding for education, do you really want to make a big deal about it and why?
If he starts to tell us there are WMD's in Iran, I'll get the pitch fork and you can bring the tar and feathers but until then, chill the eff out.
Like millions of Americans, I'm struggling my arse off trying to stay afloat and hanging by an eff'n thread to do it. You may be all well and dandy and I'm happy for you, but this isn't a eff'n game, or some mental masturbation exercise for many of us. It's real and it's serious.
Am I on eff'n Candid Camera or what? If you voted for the man, trust your dayum judgment. I'm not saying you shouldn't question but many of you are worse than the eff'n GOP, media and asshat Dem's with the constant critics and criticizing. Whose eff'n side are you own?
March 19, 2009 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
On Bush, to be honest, I didn't give Bush enough credit to lie, I just labeled him stupid and disregarded what he had to say. In hindsight, I should have paid more attention.
March 19, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
If along the journey of your existence, there will be one and only one truth you should ever come to fully know and wholly accept, let it be this:
POLITICIANS NEVER, EVVEERRRR LIE!
Frankly, I am so shocked you would even suggest such a thing that I now must remove my eyeballs for having read this blasphemy.
March 19, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
As long as you don't eat them you should be ok, crazy but not insane:)
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/18/Blind_killers_appeal_denied_in_Texas/UPI-36251237426590/
March 19, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shit the facts are right there. We need to improve the system but that was a flat out lie
Love the personal attacks though, you peice of shit.
March 19, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is bullshit. NPR fact checked the same thing and had a better explanation about this exact discussion. The bottomline was that Obama was mostly parsing words but the overall point was correct. Sorry it was radio otherwise I'd link to it.
But I'd say not to start ranting before checking out the facts yourself and calling people liars. I don't think we need this kind of shrill eat-your-own tone on a liberal site.
March 27, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink