2009-03-13 Karl Rove's funny numbers

2009-03-13 Andrew Leonard Salon \Karl Rove\right-wing distortions\2009-03-12 The White House Misfires on Limbaugh http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/03/13/the_math_of_karl_rove/index.html Karl Rove's funny numbers Karl Rove's funny numbers  The second "most read" story on the Wall Street Journal Web site Friday morning was a column by Karl Rove, "The White House Misfires on Limbaugh." It's a fascinating column in a number of respects -- not least the Alice-in-Wonderland quality of watching Karl Rove criticize someone else for politicizing the White House. But one paragraph jumps out.

"And among those [unpleasant realities] America now faces is Mr. Obama adding $3.2 trillion to the national debt in his first 20 months and 11 days in office, eclipsing the $2.9 trillion added during the Bush presidency's entire eight years."

Where in the world does that $2.9 trillion number come from?

When George W. Bush took office, the national debt was $5.66 trillion. When George Bush left office, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np it was $10.62 trillion]. Commentary:
 * 2009-03-16 ACW Knowledge Is Power Series: National Debt

&ldquo;It's a fascinating column in a number of respects -- not least the Alice-in-Wonderland quality of watching Karl Rove criticize someone else for politicizing the White House...&rdquo;   