February 14, 2011 5:11 PM

Sarah Palin Gets Facts Wrong in Budget Critique

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Republicans ,
Economy
(Credit: Getty Images)

Sarah Palin has turned to Facebook and Twitter to criticize President Obama's 2012 budget proposal. Here's what she wrote on Twitter: "Here's how minuscule the White House's $775 million a year cuts are: less than 1/10 of 1% of this year's budget deficit."

And on Facebook: "If you want to know how minuscule their proposed $775 million-a-year budget 'cuts' really are, please look at this chart. The proposed cuts are so insignificant - less than 1/10 of 1% of this year's $1.65 trillion budget deficit - that they are essentially invisible on the pie chart. That speaks volumes about today's budget."

Palin links in both places to a chart posted on The Blaze, Glenn Beck's website, five days ago - before the budget proposal came out. It uses an op-ed by White House Budget Director Jacob Lew to suggest that Mr. Obama was proposing to cut $775 million from the budget, and goes on to mock that amount as insignificant.

The problem? Lew wrote in his op-ed that he was only discussing "a small fraction of the scores of cuts" in the budget proposal, not the total proposed cuts, as a Democratic official pointed out to Ben Smith. Now, it's difficult to quantify the exact total of those first year cuts, and there is new spending that actually increases the deficit projection for 2012. But the cuts themselves are certainly more than Palin suggests: there are $2.5 billion in cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program alone, for example. Smith writes that the proposed cuts, in total, add up to about $75 billion.

There is no problem with Palin criticizing the cuts as too small, of course. But the simple fact is that she is using an incorrect figure as the basis of her critique.


Add a Comment See all 346 Comments
by Jeanne256 February 16, 2011 10:44 PM EST
Why does this not surprise me.? PLEASE.. It is IGNORE SARAH PALIN MONTH.. PLEASE CBS... PLEASE
Reply to this comment
by olyboy February 16, 2011 11:21 AM EST
Our president is the master of saying one thing and doing another (generally known a lying). Who cares what a former governor of a small (population) state might say. CBS, let's focus on what's important here.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 February 16, 2011 2:11 PM EST
FlangeSqueal8 Can you PROVE she lied about giving birth to TRIG? Come on! I dare you to prove it! Also his name is TRIG NOT TROGG!

Also I DO read a book! In fact I read several! The main one is probably one you've never heard of or read! It's called the Holy Bible! Obviously you haven't read it, especially the part called the Ten Commandments, one of which is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour"! That means don't tell lies on others!

You'll deny it but that's exactly what you're doing!
by edeltraud-2009 February 16, 2011 10:18 AM EST
Palin s Mouth neat to be Muzzle at stah s open 24 /7 .this Women is really stupid
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 February 16, 2011 10:39 AM EST
edeltraud-2009 can't even type a sentence that makes sense but, yet they have the gall to call someone else stupid!
by Riverjump February 16, 2011 11:03 AM EST
Won't be agreein with you a lot JV, but damn, can someone be that uneducated in the basics?
by edeltraud-2009 February 16, 2011 10:17 AM EST
Palin s Mouth neat to be Muzzle at stah s open 24 /7 .this Women is really stupid
Reply to this comment
by CarloCaraluzzo February 15, 2011 11:24 PM EST
The great thing is that she is such a poster child for modern Republicans. And she is not the only example. Reagan was lucid only about half the time during his second term, Baby Bush hardly could open his mouth without putting his foot in it and lets not even get started on Christine Odonnell, who didnt know the First Amendment of the Constitution.
I just dont get why anyone is paying attention to her. She was a laughing stock in 2008 and has done nothing to improve her image ever since. No party will back her, she has zero experience governing anything, especially since she quit the only political job she ever had two years in and one of those was spent on the campaign trail.
Again, why is this none issue being given press space? She had her 15 mintues, we were all entertained, now trot out the dancing dogs.
Reply to this comment
by slappy_mcghee February 16, 2011 12:08 AM EST
She had her 15 mintues, we were all entertained, now trot out the dancing dogs.
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Or dancing daughters.
by Birdman04 February 15, 2011 10:24 PM EST
She is bad for business. My business. It is nothing personal, I choose not to respect those that do not fulfill their sworn obligations.

People can make all the excuses they want to justify her actions but it doesn't change the simple fact that a person of integrity steps up to the plate, brings their best game and fights till their last breath when the going gets tough. That simple concept like a gentle breeze flies right over the heads of most people. That is a fact. It is not personal.

It is simply business and these values should apply to everyone. Those that feel the need to defend the people of that nature are in fact lacking in self esteem and just plain good common sense.
Reply to this comment
by edeltraud-2009 February 16, 2011 7:30 AM EST
She is nothing but low Life Trash .that includes her Husband .doing Porno in the Past .that is the Reason the laying low now .that Women is a Nut case
by slappy_mcghee February 15, 2011 7:51 PM EST
by san850 February 15, 2011 7:43 PM EST
Now JV that's funny! And I didn't think you had a sense of humor. Please explain, though, why Katie Couric would need to "apologize" to Palin? You do realize that it was Sarah Palin who could not give sensible answers to Couric's questions, right? You know, the one about Supreme Court decisions for instance? Why should Couric apologize for Palin's incompetence?? Please explain.

========

I can see Couric now: "Gee, Mrs. Palin, I am SO sorry for asking you simple questions, like what you read, and what your favorite SCOTUS ruling is. We'll stick to asking you which brand of applesauce you like, if you can handle that...."


.
Reply to this comment
by Riverjump February 15, 2011 7:54 PM EST
Or "how do you prepare your caribou"? LMAO
by ProsperityBeginsIn2012 February 15, 2011 8:11 PM EST
We wished Couric would asked obama the same questions, barack would be up the creek without the teleprompter.....
See all 8 Replies
by slappy_mcghee February 15, 2011 7:40 PM EST
by JV1970
slappy_mcghee Yes, I'm aware of that but I'm also aware of many Republicans and conservatives who do!

======

It's a minority. Most Repubs and conservatives want nothing to do with her.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 February 16, 2011 2:00 AM EST
That's just your opinion! You don't know that to be a fact! All you see is the polls. You won't know if it's a fact until the primaries are over if she decides to run!
by erasmus111 February 16, 2011 2:51 AM EST
by JV1970 February 16, 2011 2:00 AM EST
That's just your opinion! You don't know that to be a fact! All you see is the polls. You won't know if it's a fact until the primaries are over if she decides to run!


Why does every single sentence have to end in an exclamation mark?!!!!!
by Riverjump February 15, 2011 6:52 PM EST
For JV1970. The answer to all your defenses of Sarah: She gets PAID to spew this stuff. Unfortunately (for her) she gets it wrong! Even Beck will get tired of her embarassments.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 February 15, 2011 7:01 PM EST
Apparently YOU haven't! You still read about them and comment on them!
by san850 February 15, 2011 7:11 PM EST
It's unbelievably entertaining ... better than the comics.
by larrryshrine February 15, 2011 6:44 PM EST
For all you Palin defenders, would you give Obama the same pass if he made a similar mistake? I didn't think so. You would excoriate him and call him names.
Reply to this comment
by JV1970 February 15, 2011 6:57 PM EST
He has made similar mistakes and, yes, you liberals and CBS gave him the same pass! In fact when Obama makes a mistake CBS says very little, if anything about it and "kills" the story and takes it off their website as soon as possible. They let stories about Palin's mistakes run for days and sometimes even weeks on their website.
by slappy_mcghee February 15, 2011 6:59 PM EST
You say "you liberals" like you think everyone who dislikes Palin is a lib.

You ARE aware that many many Repubs and conservatives want NOTHING to do with her, don't you?
See all 6 Replies
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