A Dartmouth numbers game
Democrats met for yet another debate on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Numbers flew more furiously than ideas and not everyone had command of the facts. Here are some of the claims we checked out:
• Gov. Bill Richardson claimed that New Mexico’s economy ranked sixth among states for growth. It has been a refrain of his campaign that the state’s economy improved under his tenure, and in this case we find his boast to be Mostly True.
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Social Security is “solid” until 2040. Indeed it is, according to the most recent government report, so he gets a True. But a word of caution: that’s the year when the trust fund would be depleted.
• Sen. Joe Biden claimed that drinking by pregnant women leads to the birth of 300,000 deformed babies every year. Ooof, he’s off by a bunch. You have to include learning disabilities among the deformities to get to 40,000.
