Reactions to reaction to the SotU
Sarah Palin, re: "Sputnik Moment""Yeah, that was another of those 'WTF' moments, when he so often repeated, this 'Sputnik moment', he would aspire [SIC] Americans to celebrate, to remember back then with the former Communist U.S.S.R., and their victory, that their, and their race to space, that yeah, they won, but they incurred so much debt at the time that it led to the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union. I listen to that 'Sputnik moment' talk, over and over again, and I don't think we need one of those. You know what we need is a 'Spud Nut moment', and here's a Spud Nut moment."
Source: [HERE]
Oh, Sarah Palin. Where to begin, where to begin?
Like I said on Facebook...
- The Soviets got most of the firsts, but we won the space race by going to the moon and developing reusable spacecraft.
- Sputnik did NOT bankrupt the Soviet Union.
- Sputnik's launch in 1957 is completely and totally unrelated to the USSR's collapse in 1991.
Sarah Palin. Wow.
Michele Bachman's Tea Party response:The White House promised us that all the spending would keep unemployment under 8 percent. Well not only did that plan fail to deliver, but within three months the national jobless rate spiked to 9.4 percent. It hasn't been lower for 20 straight months. While the government grew, we lost more than 2 million jobs...
Well, deficits were unacceptably high under President Bush, but they exploded under President Obama's direction, growing the national debt by an astounding $3.1 trillion.
Well, what did we buy? Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which light bulbs to buy, and which will put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama's health care bill.
Obamacare mandates and penalties may even force many job creators to just stop offering health insurance altogether, unless of course yours is one of the more-than-222 privileged companies or unions that has already received a government waiver under Obamacare. In the end, unless we fully repeal Obamacare, a nation that currently enjoys the world's finest health care might be forced to rely on government-run coverage. That could have a devastating impact on our national debt for even generations to come.
Full transcript [HERE].
Hoo-kay... Let's begin...
- Her claims of government growth vs. job loss are shaky. You have to play with the numbers of what constitutes "the government" to say that it grew. (It's worth noting that the number - over 70,000 - is less than the temporary census workforce - 100,000. That means a net loss.) Also, she claims we lost 2 million jobs after the stimulus bill was passed, but that number only works if you include a time frame several months pre-stimulus, when Obama was barley sworn in.
- Republicans and Tea Partiers love to cite the "8% promise" as evidence that the stimulus bill was a failure. While it was a projection rather than any sort of promise or guarentee, the majority of economists say it created 3 million private sector jobs, and prevented the unemployment rate from jumping to 11%.
- The government is not telling you what kind of light bulbs to buy.
- A number more like 12,000 of IRS employees could be hired (and as few as 5,000) to check with compliance with the health care bill, but most of them will be employed to distribute subsidies so people can afford to buy health coverage. In other words, the IRS will hire thousands of people to give you money.
- The health care law is unlikely to be "job killing." Eric Cantor and John Boener's favorite talking point is based on a report from the National Federation of Independent Business, which took its information from conjecture before the bill was ever written.
- The health care bill was not, in any way, a "government takeover of health care."
She also seems to have a tenuous grasp of American history.
Special thanks to...
Remember, folks! Trust, but verify.
Of course, when it comes to politicians, you may want to skip that first part.
These websites are your friends:
• FactCheck.org
• PolitiFact
• Google News