- NEW!
by Sarah M on November 17th, 2009
The same reason Nancy Pelosi said " If we don't have an economic stimulus package five hundred million Americans will lose their job."
A little difficult since there are only a three hundred million American citizens"
Neither of them have a clue.
by Legend of my mind on November 17th, 2009
I think it was probably an honest mistake. Where I work, we provide some of the information on the jobs created. There is so much inforation to compile, in such a short amount of time, there are going to be some mistakes at first.
by monkeyinaround on November 17th, 2009
I'd guess it was a mistake, things don't move as fast as we'd like sometimes... patience is a virtue, right?!
by olan black on November 18th, 2009
Fact Check, the whole story. The individual states reported this to the federal government. these states may have an alternate motive for reporting higher employment rates. such as trying to draw new business to the states. but, once the numbers were reported, there was a press release. after that the feds checked the data, and found out it was wrong.
by Gone on November 18th, 2009
This Administration is dishonest,, there were several districts that didn't exist,,there's the thousand dollar lawn mower that was purchased and was claimed to have created 50 jobs, figure that one out. I'll bet when it's all said and done we will find out that the stimulus money is being given to Democratic supporters and covered up with bogus claims like these.
by Nancy on November 17th, 2009
Hmmmm; it could be the same reason they claim that all americans will be able to afford health insurance some day; while saying 96% will be....they lie.
by weatherman taking week or so off on November 17th, 2009
Political posturing for the 2012 primaries.
by DaniMac on November 18th, 2009
Hey Kiethold - just noticed you hit 100 - Congrats, man!
Every time I turn on the news I feel like the Obama administration is treating us more & more like idiots & doesn't believe we'll actually look in to their claims. The stimulus package was a HUGE mistake & they know it. They seem to think that lies will cover it up....
by East Hill on November 17th, 2009
Well, he's painting himself into a corner with stuff like this.
If it was a mistake, well, it's a pretty stupid mistake. It smacks of incompetence.
If it wasn't a mistake, then he was trying to "cook the books" to make the employment numbers look better, which he desperately needs for the 2010 elections. That's dishonest.
As the man who was hired to replace the dishonest/incompetent George W. Bush, he'd better get his act together quickly.
by Moongrim on November 18th, 2009
What olan Black said.
Or I could pretend to be a Republican: It's an attempt by the Crypto-Fascistic Muslim Illuminati to once again insult our room temperature intelligence and show itself to be even less capable than our God/King Bu$h.
by Randoley on November 18th, 2009
If all of these bogus numbers were not in the positive it might be concidered a mistake, but not one of these "mistakes" report loosing jobs. That makes it look like it was made up to back up his claims that were being refuted.
by Rude Bear Ready for Winter on November 30th, 2009
My understanding is that for auditing purposes, the people who got jobs were asked questions, including which congressional districts they lived in. Some didn't know and guessed. The false information was reported up the chain of command and no one ever notice the mistake.
BFD
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
As other posters have pointed out, Iowa sends this information to the President, and the Executive Branch reports what the states tell them. The claims were made by Iowa, and were corrected by the President as soon as the errors were discovered. Other errors in state reporting were corrected as soon as they were verified as errors.
I think its really stupid that people are blaming the President for fake information made up not by the President, but by state governments in order to hide how they were misusing the stimulus money. Unlike a previous President's claims of having been given "fake information" being unverifiable because all of the information was "classified", President Obama's information is publicly available and errors can be discovered by anyone who has some spare time on a computer connected to the Internet.
Attacking the President for the errors of state governments changes nothing. Attack the state governments which sent falsified information, or nothing will change in this country. Its probably safe to say that anyone who attacks the President for reporting what the states told him, instead of attacking state governments for sending the President false information, has no interest in fixing the system and just wants to do nothing while attacking the President.
Of course, the referenced article decided to go beyond just reporting what had happened, and decided to make up additional stuff with a house of cards lacking quite a few cards on the bottom. The fact that Kevin Hall (the author) started off the article referring to "Barack Obama's Fantasyland" already warned the reader not to expect unbiased journalism.
In the link referenced for this question (http://www.examiner.com/x-22564-Des-Moines-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m11d17-Obama-claims-he-created-Iowa-jobs-in-districts-that-do-not-exist), the writer claims that the current unemployment rate is 17.5%.
The NY Times link the writer uses to justify this figure (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/business/economy/07econ.html?_r=2&th&emc=th) doesn't say that at all: the unemployment rate is still the official number of 10.2%. The 17.5% figure is a count of unemployed and under-employed people, or for the thick ones in the crowd, unemployed and EMPLOYED people. Last time I heard, someone who has a job is NOT unemployed, so they don't belong in the unemployment rate figures.
In fact, the NY Times article in which the 17.5% figure is defined declares that people who have jobs (the 7.3% EMPLOYED people in the 17.5% figure) have seen their wages go up.
So in other words the Des Moines Examiner article is attempting to use dodgy language to try and create additional woes for the President that do not yet exist.
Kevin Hall even has the gall to say things like "the White House is fudging the numbers", while Kevin Hall is busy fudging the numbers in his article to claim that the unemployment rate is over 50% higher than it really is.
In "Kevin Hall's Fantasyland", the unemployment rate may be 17.5%, but in the Real World it is still 10.2% and the 7.3% "under-employed" still saw their wages go up, an embarrassing detail for anyone trying to claim that the stimulus package had no effect whatsoever.
by Nightwatchdog on November 18th, 2009
The numbers are bogus - indeed...the whole article is bogus.
But frankly I'm not interested in anyone's propaganda - not the crap from my side - and certainly not the crap from the lunatic fringe right.
You will have to do better than this....I'm just not interested in this bargain basement bullshit.
All the best to everyone who posts to this question...sycophants and patriots alike....and I'll keep watching this space for the real dirt....but this?....this isn't even dust - let alone honest to god dirt.
Have a good one guys!
by Redhawk on November 18th, 2009
Because he is hoping that the SHEEPLE WILL NOT NOTICE! I'm starting to think my conservative partner is RIGHT...
He is trying to collapse our financial base and turn this country into a dictator/Nanny state.
I have no health insurance, I'm diabetic. I'd love some health coverage....BUT NOT THIS ONE!
I don't want my GOVERNMENT RUNNING MY HEALTH CARE...I DON'T WANT THEM TELLING ME I HAVE TO HAVE VACCINES THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE IN....
I was a Green...they got weird, so I reuped as a Dem so that I could vote in all of the elections....but I've never felt this way before...(not that I would swear to vote straight ticket anyway..I wouldn't)
I didn't vote for THIS CRAP...but we have it now...from the frying pan into the fire!
by Wind in the Willow on November 30th, 2009
Why are you so focused on US when you don't live here?
When is primary election day?
by Answerbag Staff on February 27th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Why are those who criticize safety nets (SS, Medicare, welfare, etc.) are the ones who depend on them the most?
by Mephistopheles on February 12th, 2012
| 3 people like this
Greece's "entitled" people are setting fires over their "entitlement" cuts. Is that what's in store from our democrats someday?
by More2Be on February 12th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
Greece will accept eternal dept to the european countries or accepts bankruptcy?
by LoverOfSophia on February 12th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
Anyone still out there who seriously takes politics seriously any longer? Why?
by RosieGHM Jetpacker on February 13th, 2012
| 4 people like this
You're reading Why did the Obama administration claim to have created jobs in Iowa congressional districts that didn't exist?
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Comments
Thanks Sarah. Interesting point.
by keithold is a prodigal bagger on November 17th, 2009
Nancy was obviously including Central America. Our southern colonies.
by weatherman taking week or so off on November 17th, 2009
Yes, she must have, It wouldn't surprise me to see them supporting central America with US tax dollars :)
by Sarah M on November 17th, 2009
Don't forget we have 57 states.
by TomFluflu on November 17th, 2009
And that's without DC, PR, and BC. Only a matter of time til they join.....
by weatherman taking week or so off on November 17th, 2009
Can you imagine if a Republican said this stuff Tom? I mean Dan Quayle misspells Potato and he is crucified by the Democrats and these clowns make much bigger mistakes and get a pass. The liberal double standard is pathetic.
by Sarah M on November 17th, 2009
Amazing. +6
by LarryH54 on November 17th, 2009
You mean potatoe doesn't have an e... dang!
by TomFluflu on November 18th, 2009
And they continue to do it to Gov. Palin. Like her or not, she does not deserve to be treated like a 'bimbo' on the cover of 'newsweek' and treated like an air head.
BO isn't even back from the Eastern leg of his 24/7 travels and he's already up for a 'listening tour'. When does this guy work?
by Anonymous on November 18th, 2009
I don't like Palin, I don't like that she joyfully allowed shooting wolves from airplanes....amongst other things...but I could spit nails over the crap the media put her through....If the media wanted to call her on things of "wrong doing" fine, call her on it...but her HAIR, CHOICE OF GLASSES, WHAT SHE EATS, HER MAKEUP, HER CLOTHES AND FASHION SENSE.....what a bunch of utter shit! NO male candidate has EVER been criticized over his GLASSES, OR SENSE OF COLOR AND FASHION CONSIDERATIONS....I give her points for juggling her LIFE, FAMILY, CAREER, and dipchit reporters who cared more about what she had for breakfast than her politics with a sense of professionalism and grace. I think SHE was serious....and I don't think the media treated her with any professional respect at all. That was wrong!
by Redhawk on November 18th, 2009
@Redhawk, I totally agree. As I wrote, like her or not, she should be questioned on her political beliefs. I could care less if she's run out of Cheerios or CoverGirl mascara. That's her personal life.
Now the AP has sent eleven reporters out to vet her book for lies. I didn't hear anything about them doing that with the BO books. Maybe I was asleep.
I'm a great animal lover like you also. We have no children so everything we have is going to the MSU Vet College. I have a big love affair with all the 2 and 4 legged critters.
by Anonymous on November 18th, 2009
How about that idea that dogs and cats can sue their owners? That seems a good bit of a STALE idea to me....and if you have read my more prevalent posts...you KNOW I love animals! But there is something very wrong about this one! MORE nanny state mentality!
by Redhawk on November 18th, 2009
@ TomFlewFly:
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I simply CANNOT believe you! 57 STATES?!?!?! Get with the program, man! Obama NEVER said we had 57 states! Here's what he said:
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"... it is just wonderful to be back in Oregon, and over the last 15 months we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in fifty .... seven states? I think one left to go. One left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit but my staff would not justify it."
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57 plus one left to go equals FIFTY EIGHT, man!
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And if you do the math from his statement, you get:
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Every corner of the U.S. (57 states) plus one left to go, plus Alaska and Hawaii equals SIXTY!
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:):):):)
by The Chief on November 18th, 2009
FUUUUUUDDDDDDGGGGGGEEEEE...bend over...(pass out the KY).
by Redhawk on November 18th, 2009
Hey...it's simple math!
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:):)
by The Chief on November 18th, 2009
Painfully so....sort of like an ice burg...don'tcha think? (What we see, is only the tip...of what we'll get!) Burrrrr it's gettin cold here in AMERIKA.
by Redhawk on November 18th, 2009
Heh!
by The Chief on November 18th, 2009
Wow... 60 states! Already obama is making this a greater country.
by TomFluflu on November 18th, 2009
HAHAHAHAHA! A twenty percent increase in the number of States in the Union! And all that duringhis campaign BEFORE getting into office!
by The Chief on November 18th, 2009
While the schoolyard catcalls are mildly entertaining, I think it should be pointed out that Nancy Pelosi, in the interview with Chris Wallace, admitted that she was referring to 500,000 jobs a month, not 500,000,000 jobs a month.
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In fact, earlier in the same interview, she had referred to the same job loss numbers as "half a million", which for the math challenged is also 500,000.
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http://www.factcheck.org/2009/02/now-thats-an-unemployment-crisis/
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PELOSI: But in terms of what we have to do in the first 100 days, we must address the needs of this country. Five hundred million people will lose their jobs each month until we have an economic package.
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WALLACE: No, 500,000.
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PELOSI: What did I say, million?
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WALLACE: Yes, 500 million. That would really be a recession.
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PELOSI: Oh, no. Excuse me. Thank you for correcting me.
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WALLACE: Yes.
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PELOSI: It feels like 500 million. Five hundred thousand Americans will lose their jobs each month until we have a recovery package.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
It pays to check your information with organizations that check information before wildly spouting inaccurate information (well, at least with people who aren't Republicans or Libertarians).
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Maybe then the Libertarian party might actually start winning a few national elections.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
eternal0void, The point which you so conveniently miss is IF a republican had said this he would be crucified. Calling half a million five hundred million would be unforgivable and proof positive she was a moron if she were a conservative. There would be no mercy for a simple slip of the tongue, It would be played over and over until it was ingrained in everyone's head that he was a moron much like the potatoe remark of Dan Quayle. The Double standard shown by the democratic party is pathetic. We are simply holding the dems to the same standards as they hold republicans. I LOVE how you overlook the 57 states comment by Obama and don't address it whatsoever and attack the 500 million comment.You make my point completely by doing so. You are suddenly holding me to a standard that you don't hold Pelosi OR Obama to. Very telling and very typical, I would expect nothing less.
by Sarah M on November 20th, 2009
Sarah M.: "The point which you so conveniently miss is IF a republican had said this he would be crucified. Calling half a million five hundred million would be unforgivable and proof positive she was a moron if she were a conservative."
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I find it incredibly interesting that you have to go back to the FIRST Bush Administration to find an example of the "liberal media" not showing any mercy to conservatives. If its as common as you claim, then surely you'd be able to find an example that wasn't SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD.
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Apparently you're holding the democrats to some form of strawman "standards" you've only just now created. Must be related to the teabaggers not being concerned about the tax system under Bush...but furious about *the same tax system* under Obama.
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Frankly I've come to expect you guys making stuff up and then complaining about it as if it was real.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
As for the "fifty-seven states" comment, strictly speaking there are fifty-eight regions of the U.S.A. containing U.S. Citizens, even though only fifty of them are states. I am of course referring to the Territories.
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There is one incorporated unorganized territory, Palmyra Atoll.
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There are four unincorporated organized territories, namely Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.
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There are also three inhabited unincorporated unorganized territories, namely American Samoa, Wake Island, and the Midway Islands.
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This comes to a grand total of eight additional locations which are U.S. soil, making a grand total of 58.
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Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all contain U.S. Citizens capable of voting for the U.S. President. Guam can send delegates to the Democrat and Republican conventions, meaning they help select the candidates. The rest have U.S. citizens working on them, still able to cast ballots.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Of course, of even more importance is the fact that President Obama **apologized for the error** (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/barack-obama-wa.html), putting him head and shoulders above most conservatives.
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What you don't seem to get is that conservatives don't apologize for their errors, instead insisting that the "liberal media" was the one which made the error (despite recorded evidence). Democrats, on the other hand, apologize when their errors are pointed out.
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Morons insist that they made no errors despite evidence to the contrary; intelligent people who make the occasional mistake admit to errors when they are made.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Also, the scary thing about conservatives is that sometimes they really do *mean* the outrageous numbers they say, even when you'd think that *sane people* would want to pretend it had been a gaffe:
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"Make it a hundred...That would be fine with me."
--John McCain, to a questioner who asked if he supported President Bush's vision for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq for 50 years.
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Really? John McCain wanted to be remembered for a 100 Years War?
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Does death count as a region? Many dead people vote democrat, it seems.
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It doesn't bother me you refer to 'teabaggers'... but when the elected president of the US chooses (with a smirk) to call tens of millions of US citizens teabaggers, it truly shows a lack of class. Not surprising but disappointing!
by TomFluflu on November 20th, 2009
Yes, the unsubstantiated claim that *modern* elections contain dead people voting democrat.
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Here's a clue about ACORN: Voter registrations are not the same as fake votes. No matter how many times Daffy Duck or former President Abraham Lincoln fills out a voter registration card, neither one will show up to vote, so its still not "stealing an election."
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That takes the U.S. Supreme Court and your brother as governor of a key state.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Finally, if the U.S. President uses the common media term for "people who spent eight years not angry about the tax system, then suddenly realized what their tax system was, merely coincidentally at the same time Obama was elected President," who are we to argue?
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Besides which, one teabagger came up with the term for the teabagger movement long before any liberal commentator used it. The photo in the link is from February 27th, 2009. You guys have only yourselves to blame for being called teabaggers:
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(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3313864503_16bcc382fa.jpg?v=0)
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Original Source: (http://washingtonindependent.com/31868/scenes-from-the-new-american-tea-party)
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"Tea Bag The Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You!"
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Clearly a call to arms: "come let us all teabag the liberal Dems", making everyone around him a...teabagger.
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Thus the name first popped up in the teabagger camp. Obama is just quoting teabaggers when he calls them teabaggers.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Heck the word is even in the Oxford American Dictionary.
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Are you that opposed to a good education that you would decry the use of a DICTIONARY word defined as "a person who protests President Obama's tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as "Tea Party" protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)"?
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The great thing about the English language is that new words get added all the time, making for a much richer language experience.
by eternal0void on November 20th, 2009
Tom I wouldn't waste much time with this clown, He has been trolling me with his scary -3 downrate and rambling incoherently at my answers.
His 54 percent positive rating is proof enough he is a troll. He has no credibility, just ignore him and he may go away, although he does seem to follow me around a bit. Maybe a stalking troll? LOL!
He's just a mindless Obamabot who can't think for himself and believes everything he sees on CNN.
by Sarah M on November 20th, 2009
I was thinking of stalking you myself... that is... just following your postings and answering behind you... know what I mean?
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Is it bad manners or is it common practice? It is fun...
by TomFluflu on November 20th, 2009
I don't mind you stalking me Tom if you don't downrate every question I answer :)
I know you wouldn't BTW, You have that 100% rating. I thought mine was good! Yours is stellar!
by Sarah M on November 20th, 2009
I have never DRed anyone... are you eastern european?
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Where do I find my rating?
by TomFluflu on November 20th, 2009
It's on the bottom of your stats It has a rating of positive points given.
I am Icelandic and German mixed, Mom was born in Iceland.
by Sarah M on November 20th, 2009
I have no idea how I got 100%... your eyes are strikingly beautiful... and the rest of you... of course.
by TomFluflu on November 20th, 2009
{{{Blush}}} :)
by Sarah M on November 20th, 2009