Did Rudy Really Tell Three Whoppers In One Sentence?

[RedEarth]

Rudy appears to have hit a trifecta of sorts: He may have told three lies in one sentence.

In an interview with the Associated Press yesterday, Rudy defended his appointment of embattled former top cop Bernie Kerik as follows:

"There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik. But what's the ultimate result for the people of New York City? The ultimate result for the people of New York City was a 74 percent reduction in shootings, a 60 percent reduction in crime, a correction program that went from being one of the worst in the country to one that was on '60 Minutes' as the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails."
"Sure, there were issues, but if I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape," Giuliani said.


Rudy is very clearly saying that these statistical crime drops occurred on Kerik's watch. So let's take these one by one.


Ready?

(a) The claim that under Commissioner Kerik there was a 74% reduction in shootings. Kerik was New York's police commissioner from August 2000 through the end of Rudy's term in December 2001. That's a year and a half. As best as we can determine, neither the FBI crime stats nor police comstat statistics measure the amorphous category of "shootings."

So we turned for help to a recent study that was done by the Vera Institute of Justice, with cooperation from New York Police Department top brass. It found that between 1999 and 2002 -- a time period that includes Kerik's tenure but was actually significantly longer -- the number of shooting victims in New York City fell a mere seven percent -- a far cry from the 74% Rudy claimed. While this is remotely feasible mathematically, it's virtually certain that it didn't happen, since crime fell steadily through Rudy's whole tenure.

(b) The claim that there was a 60 percent reduction in crime on Kerik's watch. According to FBI crime stats, in 2000 there were 288,368 police-recorded crimes. In 2001, there were 263,764. Comparing these is actually overly fair to Kerik, since he started half way into 2000. So here we see a drop of roughly 8.5% percent -- hardly the 60 percent Rudy claimed.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/11/did_rudy_really_tell_three_whoppers_in_one_sentence.php

[thereismore]

1. ...if I have the same degree of success as president...this country will be like a prison. nt

[antiimperialist]

2. DU'ers don't wanna hear about Rudy's lies. They want to talk about Hillary's pecadillos

This thread should have tons of recommendations.
Giuliani probably broke the record in modern politics by telling there lies in one sentence. Instead of hammering he who is the most likely opponent of our Democratic Party, people here go on about Hillary's dodging of the questions, which is troubling, but not as important as actively monitoring wingnuts' deceptions.

Kicked and recommended.

[ruggerson]

3. This will sink like a stone, the cannibals can't deal with this right now

n/t

[JeffR]

4. K & R

:kick:

[Lucinda]

5. Thanks!