Republican Math

The person pictured here is Pete Sessions, the Republican Representative from the 32nd District of Texas, and yes, he does seem to be as stupid as he appears in the picture. This brainiac took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to rant against Obamacare -- and to prove his point, he did some math (complete with charts and props).

Sessions told his colleagues (and the rest of America):

“If you just do simple multiplication, 12 million into $108 billion, we’re talking literally every single recipient would be costing this government more than $5 million per person for their insurance.”

But there are a couple of problems with his math. First, you must use division, not multiplication, to get the answer he is looking for -- the cost per person for Obamacare. Second, the answer he got is way off -- off by nearly $5 million.

This is not advanced algebra or calculus. This is elementary school math, and as any elementary school student will tell you:

108,000,000,000 / 12,000,000 = 108,000 / 12 = 9,000. That's just 4,991,000 less than what Sessions said it was. The Dallas Morning News tried to get an explanation of this colossal blunder from Session's office, but his aides "declined to comment or explain". Evidently they realized that there is no explanation for idiocy on this scale.

I have always thought the congressional Republicans were just mean people, who were willing to throw most Americans under the bus to give more to their rich corporate and Wall Street buddies. I now realize that at least some of them add an incredible stupidity to that meanness (with an inability to do elementary school math).

The really sad part is that Sessions will probably be re-elected in 2016.