Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) stated on the Today Show (NBC) that the high school graduation rate was 47%. Malkin has the video. I'd like to know where he's getting that figure from. Malkin called him on it. Drudge called him on it. I'm calling him on it. I've got a bunch of statistics that dispute Kerry's claim in quite stark terms. Now Kerry may be basing his percentage on claims that the graduation rates are inflated for a variety of reasons, but there's no mention of just what the rate is. It would seem that he's making this up out of thin air.
While Kerry's actually called for truth in graduation rates which is something most people would support, regardless of political affiliation, his exaggeration or lying about the facts don't help his cause one bit.
And as an aside, the graph provided with the statistics actually shows just how high school graduation rates slipped during the Clinton Administration and stabilized under the Bush Administration. Curious.
UPDATE:
Fixed the stat above. Anonymous emailer notes that Kerry actually said that "53% of children do not graduate high school," which means 47% do. In other words, Kerry's asserting only 47% of students graduate high school, which makes Kerry's claims even more egregious despite my own kludging of the figures.
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