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Friday, March 27, 2009

Obama's Fuzzy Math Budget

With the introduction of President Barack Obama's first budget proposal, supporters and opponents alike are sharpening their pencils — and their rhetoric.

Fresh ammunition arrived March 20 when the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, put out its long-term analysis of Obama's budget, as well as its growing-gloomier-every-day update on the economic outlook.

With so many numbers flying around, we decided to look into some of the more popular talking points from both sides to see whose numbers add up and who is using fuzzy math.

Obama said at a prime-time news conference that his budget plan would halve the deficit in five years, a claim we found to be technically true, but also somewhat misleading because the initial number is so big. We gave it a Mostly True .

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg claimed Obama's budget would double the national debt in five years. We gave that one a Mostly True. - Politifact Story

For those of you who haven't found this website Politifact.com is excellent for getting the unbiased truth about rhetoric in the press. Check them out to find out who is full of it and who is right on target.

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