SPIN

[Dr. Shane]

Media Matters recently reported that O'Reilly selectively picked statistics to make it look like Bush has done more for poverty than Clinton.

O'Reilly cherry-picked census numbers to falsely suggest Bush is better on poverty than Clinton

The Media Matters' report shows they missed O'Reilly's point. O'Reilly was not comparing Bush to Clinton. If that had been what he was trying to do than Media Matters would have a point. O'Reily was trying to show that the US government is now spending more on poverty programs than it was 10 years ago, even though the poverty rate is lower. His point is valid and is not "spin".

Now poverty did decrease greatly during the Clinton years. Many will contribute that to the booming economy and expanding job base. Clinton certainly played a role in that and deserves some credit for it. O'Reilly has often given Clinton credit for the good economy.

Poverty has risen during the Bush years. Bush, of course, has had some bad economic years and the economy has only started to come back the past couple of years. Now with high gas prices and the disaster in New Orleans, the economy may be in for another slump.

So we need to remember to get our news from various sources.