Talk:Walter Mondale

The Carter-Mondale administration is well-remembered as the most beleaguered period in the 20th century. Every American recalls the days of double-digit inflation, interest rates of 20 percent, double-digit unemployment and gas lines that stretched several city blocks. [1] (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021105-37509625.htm)

The "most beleagured period in the 20th century"? Give me a break. I am no fan of Carter and I didn't vote for him, but that writer from the Washington Times is a moron, or at least badly misinformed First of all, unemployment was not at a double-digit level during the Carter Administration, so right off the bat this person doesn't know what they were talking about. In fact, unemployment at one point under Reagan reached the highest level since the Great Depression, and it was certainly higher than it was under Carter, and even then it wasn't at a double-digit level. If you want to describe the "most beleagured" period in the twentieth century, I'd say that the Great Depression beats any other period by a mile. If this is the level of intellectual discourse that comes from the Washington Times, then I'd say that we can safely ignore that newspaper as a source of information. soulpatch

Hurrah! Let's hear it for well-reasoned rebuttal. American journalists do have a tendency for overstatement. Good job, soul. Stormwriter

I'm a great admirer of Ed Poor who posted this, but that paper is published by the Unification Church and is notorious for right-wing propaganda (as opposed to challenging conservatism). Ortolan88

David N. Bossie is the president of Citizens United and the former chief investigator for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.

The Washington Times publishes columnists on its op/ed page whose views vary from the "unsigned" editorials. I reckon the paper "stands behind" its editorials but should not be held responsible for the opinions of its columnists. Perhaps their aim is to air a range of views.

If Bossie mentioned "double-digit" unemployment during a period in which it never exceeded 9.9%, then we can dismiss him as a reliable source of statistics. (It makes the "20% interest" thing suspect, too.)

Maybe I should write a short article on David Bossie, include that quote from his opinion piece, and compare his "factoids" with some more reliable info.

By the way, the reason I included the footnote thing -- [1] -- is precisely so that people like Soulpatch can check up on the references. If I were sure Bossie was right, I would have put the info directly into the article. I put it on the Talk page so it could be vetted -- as just happened. --Ed Poor

Okay, I started a David Bossie article. He sounds like a crank, and I'm (A) a bit embarrassed that I quoted him in the first place and (B) glad soulpatch backstopped me before I put Bossie's drivel in the Walter Mondale article -- I hate it when someone has to revert one of my edits, so I try to put in only useful stuff. --Ed Poor

Thanks, Ed. soulpatch