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| The Democrats' Fuzzy Math |
| 2009-04-05 |
| Is this where the rubber meets the road in terms of responsibility and good governance? When all else fails, get out the xerox machine. This is too funny: the Democrats tried to use the Obama campaign's email list to drum up support for the administration's budget. They sent emails asking Obama supporters to pledge their support for the budget proposal and encourage their neighbors to do the same. The result of the campaign was disappointing, though, as the Democrats reported they got a total of 642,000 signatures: People were asked to sign one-page pledges saying "I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy" and "I will ask friends, family and neighbors to pledge their support for this plan." The organizers collected about 642,000 signatures, and 200 people showed up Wednesday morning at Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill to distribute them to members of Congress. Only it turns out that the 642,000 number was a complete fiction: The president's e-mail list of 13-million resulted in just 114,000 individual pledges -- a response rate of less than 1 percent. Party workers secured another 100,000 signatures by hitting the streets. The DNC arrived at its 642,000 figure by making three photocopies of each petition so that every signer's senators and representative could get one. DNC spokesperson Natalie Wyeth responded: "This effort was designed to give our supporters the tools to influence their elected officials. Of course we delivered a pledge to each of their members of Congress -- 642,000 pledges. That's what we said we were delivering and that's what we did." When asked about the impression in the DNC press release that there were 642,000 unique pledges, she offered no response. This method of counting opens up a whole world of possibilities. A 5-4 defeat in the Supreme Court could become a 8-5 victory by making a copy of the dissenting opinion. Or--we can always hope--maybe Obama's $3.6 trillion budget is really only $1.2 trillion, photocopied twice. This is in fact what they are doing to the currency in order to hold interest rates down. Nothing good comes of this. |
| Posted by:Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 |
| #7 "Math is hard!" /Democrat Barbie |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-04-05 17:53 |
| #6 "Fuzzy Math"? I'm surprised they have any math at all, considering that they clearly have no logic. This is not fuzzy math -- this is just another pack of lies. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2009-04-05 17:51 |
| #5 But they raised $200 million online? Yep. Wonder how many of those card-holders had a valid address. Wonder why they didn't use that list. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-04-05 16:08 |
| #4 So does this mean I can pay my tax bill by photocopying a $100 bill a few times and sending them in? Thought not..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-05 14:02 |
| #3 That's not a budget. That's a bailout for the banknote printing industry. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2009-04-05 13:03 |
| #2 But they raised $200 million online? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-04-05 12:56 |
| #1 It's not too funny. Pelosi is trying for 'reconciliation', allowing this bill to pass with a simple majority, bypassing any minority input. On the otherhand, they are desperate. I got a letter asking for support from my influential jackass and I'm a trunk. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2009-04-05 12:32 |