Friend of mine's Op-Ed in the Philly Inquirer today:

[PCIntern]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081014_Campaign_numbers_sometimes_don_t_add_up.html


Campaign numbers sometimes don't add up
McCain's team seems especially prone to innumeracy.
By John Allen Paulos

An author and math professor at Temple University

It can be telling when a campaign relies on numerical demagoguery. Every candidate and campaign does so to an extent, but John McCain's team seems to be especially prone.
Consider the incessant talk about earmarks, those congressional provisions that fund specific projects in a legislator's district or state. This is often unnecessary pork-barrel spending and, in many (but not all) cases, nothing to celebrate.

Although this is hardly a presidential issue, McCain likes to rail about purportedly frivolous earmarks - for example, for mapping the DNA of bears in Montana or upgrading a planetarium in Chicago. He seems to suggest that eliminating them and other such programs will put a significant dent in the federal budget deficit.

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[regularguy]

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