FACTS ARE STUPID THINGS

FACT CHECK:

In President Biden's speech at the Brookings Institute this week defending his economic legacy, he said:

"I’ve never agreed with Ronald Reagan’s approach to the economy — although, I got along with him very well — but I did agree with something he said. President Reagan said, and I quote, “Facts are stubborn things.” “Facts are stubborn things.” They are.'

That's actually a quote from John Adams, from when he defended the Redcoats in the ‘Boston Massacre’ trials of March 1770. Ronald Reagan at the 1988 RNC quoted Adams and put a new spin on it:

Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back-to-back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts, and as John Adams said, ``Facts are stubborn things.'' Interest rates had jumped to over 21 percent, the highest in 120 years, more than doubling the average monthly mortgage payments for working families -- our families. When they sat around the kitchen table, it was not to plan summer vacations, it was to plan economic survival. Facts are stubborn things.

Industrial production was down, and productivity was down for 2 consecutive years. The average weekly -- you missed me. [The President referred to a background noise.] [Laughter] The average weekly wage plunged 9 percent. The median family income fell 5 1/2 percent. Facts are stubborn things.

Our friends on the other side had actually passed the single highest tax bill in the 200-year history of the United States. Auto loans, because of their policies, went up to 17 percent, so our great factories began shutting down. Fuel costs jumped through the atmosphere, more than doubling. Then people waited in gas lines as well as unemployment lines. Facts are stupid things -- stubborn things, I should say [Laughter]…

PS- I am intentionally being a smart alec in this post- fact checks are rather dumb