Michelle Bachmann and the Truth

 “Here's the truth that the president won't tell you. Of every dollar that you hold in your hands, 70 cents of that dollar that's supposed to go to the poor doesn't. It actually goes to benefit the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. — 70 cents on the dollar. 

- Rep. Michelle Bachmann, (R-MN) March 16, 2013.

 The Washington Post's fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, examines Rep. Michelle Bachmann's accuracy here.

Bachmann's source is a speech from 1990, citing a government report from 1986 (when Ronald Reagan was President.) She also misleadingly relies on a report from a Cato Institute scholar.

According to Kessler, "staff salaries amount to one-third of 1 percent of USDA’s budget for food and nutrition programs."

He concludes:

"Bachmann yet again earns Four Pinocchios. But there really aren’t enough Pinocchios for such misleading use of statistics in a major speech."

Shouldn't we expect more truth from our elected officials?