The Daily Caller, founded by Tucker Carlson, is following the lead of Donald Trump in trying to find evidence of President Obama’s college records and putting their complete lack of journalistic standards on stark display in the process. They’re quoting an anonymous source that says someone else told him that Obama had a 2.6 GPA at Columbia. But never mind that there’s no evidence offered and actual evidence against it:
The shroud over President Barack Obama’s college records — recently spotlighted by Donald Trump’s $5 million challenge — is prompting Americans to share what they’ve got, and The Daily Caller is getting its share of leads, including one story that the president scored a GPA of only 2.6 at Columbia University.
The 2.6 grade can’t be confirmed, is contradicted by some evidence, and it doesn’t say anything about the courses, professors and associations Obama was immersed in during his two-year stay in Columbia.
But the source is credible, and he’s contributing to the collective effort by Americans to find out more about their president — who is a champion of a greater role for himself and other government officials in Americans’ personal lives, social norms and career opportunities.
So we have an anonymous source offering nothing but hearsay evidence, which they themselves admit is offered without evidence and in contradiction to the evidence we have. But don’t worry, they did their due diligence:
The source asked not to be named, but TheDC has verified at least one $2,500 contribution he made to Columbia.
So no evidence, contradicts other evidence, anonymous source with nothing but a second hand story from someone else who is also anonymous. But he did once donate money to Columbia, so that makes him a credible source. Okey dokey.
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andrewjohnston
November 7, 2012 at 1:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Like the fact that he graduated summa from Harvard. I’m surprised that they’re not claiming grade inflation. That probably next.
Kevin
November 7, 2012 at 1:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Columbia folks will tell you that their 2.6 is equivalent to Harvard’s summa. But whatever.
Here’s a quick question: What do you call a guy who had a 2.6 GPA at Columbia and then won 300+ Electoral votes?
“Mr. President.”
Why this obsession with his college transcripts? He’s PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, you morons. His GPA means exactly and precisely squat.
beezlebubby
November 7, 2012 at 1:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Who gives a rat’s ass about undergraduate GPAs? Mine was about a 2.4, but I really caught fire years later in grad school, after a few years of maturity and development.
Why is the asinine right focusing on these bullshit speculations, idiotic hearsay, and dumbfuck lies and conspiracy theories, when there’s plenty of real issues that they COULD go after him for? NDAA, anyone? Murdering US citizens abroad, anyone? Bueller?
Chiroptera
November 7, 2012 at 1:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Can someone tell me what relevance Obama’s college GPA has?
If someone wants to make a case about whether or not Obama is qualified to be President and whether or not he would make a good President, can’t they look at, like, the last four years of his actually being President to make their case?
tacitus
November 7, 2012 at 1:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah, but that didn’t work…
This is all just part of the ongoing effort to delegitimize Obama’s presidency both as a coping mechanism for their losses and in the belief that once they get back into power, everything that Obama did will be dismissed as an aberration and swept aside.
davidct
November 7, 2012 at 2:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
2.6 GPA ? Is that good or bad compared to “W”?
Stephanie Zvan
November 7, 2012 at 2:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It feeds a semi-underground narrative that policies (official or unofficial) like affirmative action are responsible for us having that unspeakable oddity of a black president. It can’t possibly be because he’s highly competent, charismatic, and a refreshing change from Bush on the policies that voters pay the most attention to. It has to be because he got help he didn’t deserve along the way and that no white guy has access to in today’s world.
Note as well all the conservative resentment today at voters who aren’t white males. They have betrayed “the country” by voting their interest.
savagemutt
November 7, 2012 at 2:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Because obviously no black person could earn good grades at a university.
Taz
November 7, 2012 at 2:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Next they’ll claim you need a 2.7 to be considered a natural-born citizen.
haukebahr
November 7, 2012 at 2:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sorry to hijack this post for an unrelated question but I figured Mr. Brayton’s blog would be the best place to ask this since he’s so much into politics.
Why are the results of Florida still not called yet? On the election map I am looking at – http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/President/2012/ – it says “100% reporting” and Obama is leading in votes but it’s still not counted for him. What’s the technical reason for this?
Doug Little
November 7, 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Holly Contradiction Batman!
Doug Little
November 7, 2012 at 2:18 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s within 0.5% I believe that’s the margin for a recount, I could look it up but I’m being lazy.
Gregory in Seattle
November 7, 2012 at 2:18 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have an anonymous source who claims to have once heard a rumor that Tucker Carlson might possibly a BDSM bottom and a heroin addict.
I challenge him to prove this is not true.
tacitus
November 7, 2012 at 2:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Because it’s not yet 100%, more like 99.7% rounded up. They are still counting absentee ballots–200,000 as of this morning which, given that Obama’s lead was less than that at the time, the election is still officially undecided.
Nobody’s going to be ordering a recount this time around. It would be a complete waste of money given that it would change nothing even if Romney wins it.
newfie
November 7, 2012 at 2:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Relevant political cartoon
http://goo.gl/pui57
Stevarious, Public Health Problem
November 7, 2012 at 2:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
No it’s not. If your source is making unverifiable claims that contradict the only evidence we have and has not consulted any of the people who would have any actual knowledge regarding the claim, the source is by definition not credible.
Sastra
November 7, 2012 at 3:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Look, this is a permanent school record, people. I learned in elementary school that if you did something bad it would go on your permanent school record and follow you around till your dying day. That’s what it means to be permanent.
Once this is learned, it stays learned. It better.
typecaster
November 7, 2012 at 3:18 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t have W’s official GPA, but he was famous for being no better than a C (2.0) student. Of course, in his case, that was touted as a virtue, enhancing his status as a Regular Guy instead of a Hoity-Toity Egghead Poozer. Like *some* Democrats I could name….
brucecoppola
November 7, 2012 at 3:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@beezlebubby:
Because they’re for those.
feralboy12
November 7, 2012 at 3:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Perhaps they’re waiting for the Supreme Court to weigh in.
usingreason
November 7, 2012 at 5:18 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I also heard this, and that he likes Golden Showers, so I think we have different sources and can now call it as confirmed.
loren
November 7, 2012 at 5:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If I may nitpick, Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. Not summa.
briandavis
November 7, 2012 at 6:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What do the polls say his GPA is? What’s the margin of error?
dingojack
November 7, 2012 at 7:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sastra –
:D Dingo
abear
November 7, 2012 at 7:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Tucker Carlson, aka T Swanson Carlson was able to get superior grades the fair way: his Daddy bought them for him.
Matt G
November 7, 2012 at 9:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
IIRC, Reagan also had a C average, and at a mediocre college.
ArtK
November 7, 2012 at 9:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In this context “credible” means “can lie well enough to convince someone who desperately wants to be convinced.” In other words “entirely unconvincing to anyone with more than two functioning neurons.”
democommie
November 7, 2012 at 10:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Are there any wastrel sons of lefty journalists out there. The bowtie fuckwad hasn’t made a credible statement since before he was born.
R Johnston
November 8, 2012 at 3:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@10:
While 100% of precincts in Florida are reporting, there are still outstanding absentee ballots to be counted, provisional ballots, and federal absentee ballots[/a] (I’m not sure how that differs from absentee ballots, but I’d guess it’s military members). The absentee ballots are from Democratic counties, provisional ballots should favor Obama, and “federal absentee ballots,” whatever exactly they are, shouldn’t be enough to make up any remaining difference. Florida probably should be called already, but there are still votes to count.
andrewlephong
November 8, 2012 at 4:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dunno about “W,” but it beats that other Texan Rick Perry’s 2.2.
John Hinkle
November 8, 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If anyone makes the case of riding the coattails of affirmative action, it would be Sarah Palin. Why didn’t they hound her?
slc1
November 18, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I read somewhere that Dubya got a D in a survey astronomy course at Yale. By the way, he only got into Yale via legacy admissions due to his father attending Yale.
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