A Dartmouth numbers game

By Scott Montgomery
Published on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 3:58 p.m.

Related rulings:

"There are 300,000 babies born deformed every year in this country because of women who are alcoholics while they're carrying those children to term."

Joe Biden, Wednesday, September 26th, 2007.

Ruling: False | Details

"Today New Mexico (has) the sixth-fastest growing economy."

Bill Richardson, Wednesday, September 26th, 2007.

Ruling: Mostly True | Details

"Social Security ... is solid through about 2040 without any changes whatsoever."

Dennis Kucinich, Wednesday, September 26th, 2007.

Ruling: True | Details

Bookmark this story:

• Gov. Bill Richardson claimed that New Mexico's economy ranked sixth among states for growth. It has been a refrain of his campaign that the state's economy improved under his tenure, and in this case we find his boast to be Mostly True.

• Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Social Security is "solid" until 2040. Indeed it is, according to the most recent government report, so he gets a True. But a word of caution: that's the year when the trust fund would be depleted.

• Sen. Joe Biden claimed that drinking by pregnant women leads to the birth of 300,000 deformed babies every year. Ooof, he's off by a bunch. You have to include learning disabilities among the deformities to get to 40,000.