The Bobcat Nation

for all bush bashers at least he did say somthing like this

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5kt.htm

ERRY CLAIMS: 53% OF CHILDREN DO NOT GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL
Wed Feb 01 2006 10:43:40 ET

Sen. John Kerry claimed this morning on NBC TODAY that 53% of America's children do not graduate from high school -- a claim that raised eyebrows in the NBC control room, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

Kerry made the comments after host Katie Couric asked the former presidential candidate about Bush's State of the Union call to train 70,000 additional teachers in math and science.

COURIC: He wanted to train 70,000 additional teachers in math and science.

KERRY: That's terrific. But 53 percent of our children don't graduate from high school. Kids don't have after-school programs... He didn't ask America to sacrifice anything to achieve great goals and the biggest example is making the tax cut permanent for the wealthiest people in America. The average American struggles to find time to take carry of families, working two or three jobs... It's a disgrace. He did not tell the real state of the union.

Kerry's 53% claim conflicts with a recent press release from the U.S. Census Bureau: "High School Graduation Rates Reach All-Time High"

And the Census Bureau's own website states: 85.9 Percent Of Americans Aged 20-24 Are High School Graduates. (U.S. Census Bureau Website, www.census.gov , Accessed 2/1/06)

i watched this before driving to school today...this isnt the only thing kerry did, he was oftentimes corrected by Curric (sp) and would talk over her some of the time....embarassing to be honest with you

It'll be interesting to hear the spin that comes out of his camp.

Obviosly he misspoke but I always like to here the excuses politicians make instead of just saying the goofed.

Has anyone speculated as to what he meant to say? I imagine the correct statistic might be something like 53% of students at urban public schools don't graduate, or something like that...

EDIT: On an unrelated note, it's pretty funny to me that a supporter of Bush (of all people) is thanking the Almighty that someone isn't president because that person misspoke about something. I'm usually pretty easy on Bush when he misspeaks, but isn't he truly is the epitome of a politician that often, how shall we say, flubs his lines? Incidentally, has anyone told him that Social Security is, in fact, a federal program yet?

Or, if we want to play on a familiar theme, we might need to define what "our" children means.

A clarification of his comments from him would be nice. I'm still not willing to take Bush over him in a game of Trivial (or Non-Trivial) Pursuit, though.