Can't they count?

[louis c]

There's another old political saying, that the most important thing in politics is being able to count. However, going over this administration's numbers, they can't even seem to do that simple task efficiently.

First, Andy Card's estimate of the war in Iraq was off by close to Two Hundred Billion Dollars.

Then the Medicare numbers were off by a couple hundred billion or so, I really can't remember.

Wolfowitz missed the American death count in Iraq by a couple hundred U.S. soldiers at that point.

Now, the terrorism report that was proclaimed as proof of such a policy success by demonstrating the best improvement in thirty years, turns out to be wrong, proving just the opposite.

Isn't this the easy part of governing. It has nothing to do with policy. There are supposed to be in place highly proficient career individuals who can provide accurate numbers. Doesn't this make all their numbers suspect, including the jobs' numbers?

How inept can they get, or how deceptive?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. They have their own agenda

and they look for facts that agree with it. If they can't find them, they make them up.

[rock]

2. Don't forget sElection 2000

The most important trait a politician can have is poor math skills.

[OldCurmudgeon]

3. don't you know?

It's "faith-based" mathematics!

You can do it to! Just get really, really drunk; pound your head against a wall a dozen or so times; pull the batteries out of your calculator and put them in backwards....Voila! "Faith-based" Math!

Why it's great for calculating the effects of tax-cuts, budget deficits, terrorism reports, missel-defence effectiveness, etc, etc!

(on edit: spelling)