Facts are stupid things
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Facts are stupid things
Thanks to the holiday and the altered work schedule, I got to see Sunday's "60 Minutes" and its report on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Most of it was actually fairly predictable, but it was hard to ignore this moment near the end:
In what was overall a pretty softball interview with Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, there was one pretty telling moment to illustrate the type of toxic political environment we're living in, due primarily to Congressional leaders like Eric Cantor and that is the unwillingness to even admit facts.
When asked about his image of being someone who is unwilling to compromise and the fact that the man he claims is his hero, Ronald Reagan, was willing to compromise on taxes and work with Democrats, Cantor denied that Reagan ever "compromised his principles." When Leslie Stahl pointed out the obvious, that not raising taxes was one of his principles, Cantor's press secretary interrupted the interview, yelling from off camera that what Stahl was saying wasn't true.
The moment had all the qualities of a 9-year-old boy protesting the existence of the Easter Bunny. The reality, of course, is that Reagan, by the most accurate accounting, raised taxes 11 times as president; he did. of course, slash top marginal rate for the wealthy, but in particular his deal to RAISE payroll taxes for Social Security, a non-progressive tax cut if there ever was one, meant that a typical blue collar worker paid more of his income to the government after Reagan left office than before he came in. This is what the modern GOP has come to. It's one thing, arguably, to dispute the widely accepted science on global warming -- at least in that case there's something to debate, however weakly. But now GOP officials -- not the rank and file voters but the House Majority Leader and his press spokesman -- dispute known facts and figures in cold type. For the love of God, tear down this myth.
If you put all the lies that this year's GOP (presidential candidates, Congressmen, Mitch McConnell, etc.) together end to end, they would reach the Moon and back.— Archimedes- Will you are so funny! Where were you 3 weeks ago when Barry said he was a better President than Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe!!!!! You are so predictable. — CD75
- Typical GOP'eers, trying to change the subject. — bushmciworlcomenron
- Where were you three weeks ago when Barry vowed to veto any tax cut extension that came out of the House and Senate that was not for a full year? Later he admitted his lie and did what he was told by the new leader of the Democratic party...Harry Reid, and allowed the temporary extension and claimed it was his plan all along. — cb54
- A classic example of why the GOPers need to be given the boot. If Cantor was Pinocchio, his nose would circle the globe.— AHiredGun
- If we had a dime for all the lies that this year's GOP (presidential candidates, Congressmen, Mitch McConnell, etc., we would of paid off the national debt.— DavidAG
Comment removed.- At least we prosper when Republicans are in charge.
— journalismIsDead
---
LOL- Like the article says. Facts are stupid things. And you just proved it.
• Unemployment Rate- Republicans 6.0%, Democrats 5.2%
• Change In Unemployment Rate- Republicans +0.3%, Democrats -0.4%
• Growth of Multifactor Productivity- Republicans 0.9%, Democrats 1.7%
• Corporate Profits (share of GDP)- Republicans 8.8%, Democrats 10.2%
• Real Value of Dow Jones Index- Republicans 4.3%, Democrats 5.4% (in logarithmic growth rates)- Republicans 2.8%, Democrats 4.4%
• Real Weekly Earnings- Republicans 0.3%, Democrats 1.0%
• CPI Inflation Rate- Republicans 3.8%, Democrats 3.8%
These stats don't include the Bush crash. Which saw us lose 15 million jobs. While Obama has added 3 million jobs.
It's not even close. Just goes to show that if your voting republican your voting against your own self interest.
As they say. Facts have a liberal bias.
— Bush Destroyed America - Unemployment rate 5.2%??? I guess you are from Venus because you aren't from Mars. — cb54
- Here is the study. It was done in Dec. 2006.
http://www.business.unr.edu/econ/wp/papers/UNRECONWP06008.pdf
At that point Bush had only lost 2 million jobs and the economy was sputtering to what we have today. '
Like I always say. Before Bush the country was at it's strongest point ever economically in world history. After Bush it was at it's worst in only 8 years. If you don;t like the state of your country why would you vote Republican. It's their fault we went from a surplus to a 1.2 trillion deficit.
Facts are stupid things. Since Republicans live in a fact free zone.
And the idiots on this board prove it everyday.
Thanks for playing. journalismIsDead— Bush Destroyed America - Comment removed.
- Here's a fact - look at your 401k right now. While there is a rebound from 2008, performance in 2010 is a great sign of things to come when a democrat who hates business(unless it Solyndra) wields power.— Norton
- Look at your 401(k) in 2000. Then look at it in 2008. That's what it looks like when a Republican that hates the middle class and caters to the rich and corporations allows them to step on you. — bushmciworlcomenron
- When Reagan raised taxes, he called it "tax reform". It's a trick the Norquist-pledged should learn, once they learn never to sign another pledge. Reagan wouldn't have been that insecure, anyway.— montani semper liberi
- @Bush- You conveniently forget that your boy Clinton rode the wave of the dot.com internet bubble. And that those 'projected' surpluses were based on the continuation of Internet driven economic grow that could not continue at that pace, and it didn't. Bush picked up right as the dot.com bubble burst and 9/11. And Obama says he 'inherited a mess'...
Clinton-- exhibit A of being in the right place at the right time, and don't give me the song and dance that Gore invented the internet.....— Wiseman6
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
