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[David in Cal]

There are statements so stupefyingly misleading that they should be in some category beyond "lie". E.g., last night the President said,

"Take the money we're no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home."

Now, in order to pay down the debt, the federal government would have to not only eliminate the deficit but run a budget surplus. As we all know, the President has no plans that would eliminate the deficit, let alone produce a surplus.

I suppose a fact-checker might rate his comment as half-true, since the military spending cut would produce a lower debt than would occur without that spending cut. However, I think it's incredibly misleading to call a big increase in the National Debt "paying down the debt" just because that increase is not as large as it would be under some other possible policy.

P.S. I'm a finance guy, so perhaps I'm overly sensitive for financial doubletalk.

[Rob]

Dear Ethicist,

I am getting perverse pleasure seeing the squirming among academic elites when President Obama seeks to "reform" higher education by tying federal financing to universities' success in improving affordability and value--as those concepts are defined, of course, by the federal government. Does this make me a terrible person?

Sincerely,

Rob

[Metrichead]

Had they waited another couple of days, United Republic could've added one more question to the Stupid Debate Questions: Why would your wife make a better 1st Lady?