College Sophomore Stumps President Bush

[RedEarth]

Bush was stumped during the Q&A session of his speech today by a sophomore at Kansas State:

Q: My name is Tiffany Cooper. I’m a sophomore here at Kansas State and I was just wanting to get your comments about education. Recently 12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. I was just wondering how is that supposed to help our futures?



Bush: Actually, I think what we did was reform the student loan program. We are not cutting money out of it.

Tiffany clearly confused Bush. Not only did he have to turn to his aide for advice, but he confused truthiness with the truth. The facts:

Student Loans: On Dec. 21, 2005, the Senate passed $12.7 billion in cuts to education programs — “the largest cut in student college loan programs in history.” Vice President Cheney cast the deciding vote in favor of the cuts. The bill also fixed the interest rate on student loans at 6.8 percent, “even if commercial rates are lower.” Despite Bush’s claims, students will be left off the program.

Pell Grants: Pell Grants have been frozen or cut since 2002; they are now stuck at a maximum of $4,050. In his 2000 election campaign, President Bush promised to increase the maximum Pell Grant amount to $5,100. “From 2004 to 2005, 24,000 students lost their Pell grants, according to a report pre-pared by the Congressional Research Service. This was the first drop in the number of students receiving the grants in several years; the number had been growing steadily since 1999.”

Full transcript and video below:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/23/sophomore-stumps-bush/

[phantom power]

1. 1st rule. Never, ever start believing your own PR.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Is anyone *really* surprised to see Shrub so clueless?

Seriously, are there any hands?

[bliss_eternal]

3. I think a sophomore in junior high could confuse him...

Seriously.

[tanyev]

5. I'm pretty sure my cat could confuse him.

[bliss_eternal]

7. Whoa--look at the way he's chasin' that tail--

he's gonna' catch it this time...I know it. He sure is quick--haha--look at 'em go...did he catch it, yet? :crazy:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. I got a furball

that scores higher than Fuckface on current events.

[oldtime dfl_er]

10. I'd like to hear someone ask him some of those old standards

like "how much does a gallon of milk cost in the grocery store?" or "Who was John Quincy Adams's vice-president?"

[bliss_eternal]

12. ...how about who's your vice president?

You know he doesn't know without asking! ;)

[BR_Parkway]

11. My Pet Goat confused him. n/t

[Nutmegger]

4. Why reform instead of "cuts"???

besides using that word for PR purposes.

Just like when they cut food stamps - all of a sudden that's reform?!

[bliss_eternal]

6. The right wing way of making something look like

it was unnecessary or a detriment to the big picture of our economy--they reformed it. Such genius. :puke:

[central scrutinizer]

8. reform = cut (in Repubspeak)

meaningful reform = zero the program out

as long it is programs that help people. If it is corporate welfare, then reform = increase the handouts, reduce the oversight.

[SmokingJacket]

13. They don't tell him about this stuff, they just tell him where to sign. nt

[MissB]

14. An interest rate of 6.8%?

:wow: holy shit.