Which president told the biggest whoppers?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Covertibility, Sep 13, 2003.

  1. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.mendacity-experts.html

    "Ronald Reagan : Balance the Budget And Increase Defense Spending?
    The Reagan administration introduced the 1981 Economic Recovery Act by claiming that it would cut taxes by 30 percent, increase defense spending by three-quarters of a trillion dollars, and achieve a balanced budget within three years. Budget director David Stockman admitted in November of 1981 that, 'None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers' and that supply-side economics 'was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.' Score = 4.5 "

    "George H. W. Bush: Drugs in Lafayette Park.
    Addressing the country about the war on drugs on September 5, 1989, Bush held a plastic bag of crack cocaine before the television camera and said it had been 'seized a few days ago in a park across the street from the White House.' In order to obtain the prop, however, undercover DEA agents had lured a teenage drug dealer from southeast D.C. to Lafayette Park. The dealer's initial response to the request was, 'Where the [expletive] is the White House?' Score = 2.8"

    "Bill Clinton: Remembering The Iowa Caucuses.
    At the start of the 1996 election season, Clinton commented, 'Since I was a little boy, I've heard about the Iowa caucuses.' There were no Iowa caucuses when Clinton was a boy. They began in 1972, while Clinton was a graduate student at Oxford University. Score = 1.8 "

    "George W. Bush: "Average" Tax Cuts.
    Announcing his second big tax cut package in January 2003, Bush stated that 'These tax reductions will bring real and immediate benefits to middle-income Americans. Ninety-two million Americans will keep an average of $1,083 more of their own money.' But because the package was tilted heavily towards the very wealthy, the average tax cut for households in the middle quintile of the income spectrum was only $217, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Score = 3.6 "


     
  2. Bill Clinton: "The age of big government is over!"