WapPo: Rand Paul’s claim — twice in one day — that he has a biology degree

EBounding said:
WaPo investigates Rand's claim of a biology degree even though he has a medical degree from Duke. I suspect he said biology to not sound condescending to the audience.
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That is true, but he could have done the same thing without misrepresenting the fact and inviting criticism. "I studied Biology and English." Problem avoided.

The attack is remarkably stupid--somehow spinning it as a terrible thing that he underrepresented his credentials. But still, avoidable.
 
OMG, one would think Rand had included it in his CV to get some position. Yes, he does not have a biology degree but since he went to med school from college after 3 yrs or so, he technically has enough credit for both degree with the extra courses he took in med school. But Rand should know that people will sieve through everything he says from now onwards and he should be very carefully with every word that comes out of his mouth.

This is no controversy, but the media will blow it up and by tomorrow, Yahoo news will say he stole someone's degree to get into med school and he is truly not a doctor.
 
Another article on this issue from Salon

Rand Paul caught lying about his college record

Ophthalmologist-turned-politician Rand Paul may have a medical degree from Duke University, but the Kentucky senator and likely 2016 presidential candidate never completed his undergraduate education at Baylor University. So why did Paul assert twice yesterday that he holds two bachelor’s degrees from the institution?

The senator embellished his record during an appearance at the Lincoln Labs “Reboot Congress” event Thursday. In two instances highlighted by Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, Paul falsely suggested that he had obtained undergraduate degrees. First came this exchange between Paul and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington:

ARRINGTON: Let’s talk about economics because maybe you can actually explain this to me. I have an econ degree which means I know just enough not to understand any of what our government is [inaudible]…

PAUL: Mine’s in biology and English so this is going to be a great conversation.
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Later on, during a discussion of the virtual currency Bitcoin, Paul said, “This is just me. I have a biology degree, okay? But with Bitcoin my concern always was whether or not something has real value. So I could imagine a kind of coin that was exchangeable. This gets back to the whole idea, does money have to be exchangeable for something to be of value?”

Yet as Kessler notes, while Paul studied English and biology at Baylor, he left the university after three years in 1984, before obtaining a bachelor’s degree in either field. Despite lacking an undergraduate degree, Paul went on to graduate from Duke’s medical school in 1988. A spokesman for the senator subsequently clarified that he does not, in fact, hold degrees in English and biology, as he’d claimed.

This isn’t the first time Paul has landed in hot water for how he’s handled his college record. During his 2010 Senate campaign, Paul faced criticism for not correcting an interviewer who described him as “a graduate of Baylor University.”
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Rand needs to be smarter than to give people ammo like this. He could just say he "studied" english and biology and avoided all this bad press.

It's interesting that he was able to get into med school without his undergrad, does anyone know how that happened?
 
juleswin said:
OMG, one would think Rand had included it in his CV to get some position. Yes, he does not have a biology degree but since he went to med school from college after 3 yrs or so, he technically has enough credit for both degree with the extra courses he took in med school. But Rand should know that people will sieve through everything he says from now onwards and he should be very carefully with every word that comes out of his mouth.

This is no controversy, but the media will blow it up and by tomorrow, Yahoo news will say he stole someone's degree to get into med school and he is truly not a doctor.
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It's really not a big deal, but he did make a dubious claim and mis-represent his credentials. This one is not the medias fault.
 
cocrehamster said:
It's really not a big deal, but he did make a dubious claim and mis-represent his credentials. This one is not the medias fault.
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I was going to write something and realized Rand's senior communications director Brian Darling put it best.
“.. a M.D. Degree is the study of biomedical sciences according to the Duke University School of Medicine. In other words, a M.D. is a biology degree. Merriam-Webster defines biology as ‘a branch of knowledge that deals with living organisms and vital processes.’ Dr. Paul never said he had an undergraduate degree in biology, and it is accurate for him to say that he has a biology degree. You are making inferences from his statement that are unwarranted. It is common knowledge that the study of medicine is the study of human biology, and a MD has a doctorate degree in one area of study of the science of biology.”
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I came here after reading a very long article about this on Bloomberg. It was really bizarre, they are reaching for it. I think they are doing it because they know most people will not take the time to read such long articles on this. They know the average Joe will just pick out from the headlines that Rand is lying about his credentials

This is all part of the current meme the left and the MSM is using to imprint in the mind of the average voters that non-establishment Republican candidates are uneducated and lack college experience. They building upon that meme from Scott Walker not having a college degree.
 
kahless said:
I was going to write something and realized Rand's senior communications director Brian Darling put it best.


I came here after reading a very long article about this on Bloomberg. It was really bizarre, they are reaching for it. I think they are doing it because they know most people will not take the time to read such long articles on this. They know the average Joe will just pick out from the headlines that Rand is lying about his credentials

This is all part of the current meme the left and the MSM is using to imprint in the mind of the average voters that non-establishment Republican candidates are uneducated and lack college experience. They building upon that meme from Scott Walker not having a college degree.
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+rep

Correct answer: He has an M.D. Since when is an M.D. not a degree in biology? Who's crazy or stupid enough to claim it's a degree in some other scientific discipline besides biology?
 
orenbus said:
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Let's see. A medical degree >>>>>>>>> biology degree. So this is like "lying" about earning your first $1,000 when in fact you actually earned $100,000.00 your first day. Or to put this in the Brian Williams context, it would be like Brian Williams lying about getting shot at in Afghanistan when in fact his helicopter got shot down.

That said....considering how the whole "Didn't get his undergraduate degree" issue came up before....I have no idea why Rand falls into that trap. Why not just say "Well I have medical degree" and be done with it? Is he afraid of sounding to elitist for always talking about his terminal degree? Seriously, how many people with terminal degrees go around talking about their undergraduate degree? :confused:
 
The fact that the left is making an issue out of this is hilarious and desperate..... a Medical degree is a degree in a biology-related field. It's a biology-related degree. #%@& seriously.... facepalm.... And of course the low-info headline-reading idiots will think he "lied".... just like when he "plagiarized".... doesn't matter that it wasn't plagiarisim, it was citing something incorrectly.... doesn't matter that Crazy Joe Biden stole an entire speech word-for-word, nope look away... but Rand Paul and Ben Carson incorrectly cite something in the footnotes and OMG PLAGIARIST!!! #### these people seriously. Some of the true, good liberals we have a chance to get on our side but this is the Salon/Rachel Maddow snotty snarky progressives we're dealing with... they care less about anything other than hating Republicans. They will defend Hillary's hawkishness with words copied directly out of Dick Cheney's mouth. They have no shame.
 
jmdrake said:
Let's see. A medical degree >>>>>>>>> biology degree. So this is like "lying" about earning your first $1,000 when in fact you actually earned $100,000.00 your first day. Or to put this in the Brian Williams context, it would be like Brian Williams lying about getting shot at in Afghanistan when in fact his helicopter got shot down.

That said....considering how the whole "Didn't get his undergraduate degree" issue came up before....I have no idea why Rand falls into that trap. Why not just say "Well I have medical degree" and be done with it? Is he afraid of sounding to elitist for always talking about his terminal degree? Seriously, how many people with terminal degrees go around talking about their undergraduate degree? :confused:
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Well, we are dealing with a base that seems to be reveling in the anti-intellectualism of Scott Walker's lack of college degree. Anti-intellectualism is a badge of honor to the white trash base of the GOP. It's really sad. There's nothing wrong with not having a college education, but it isn't something that should be worn as a badge of honor either.
 
I wonder how people here would've responded if it was Hillary who's had an MD and claimed to have a biology degree.
 
Rand Paul lies about having a bachelors degree

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-c...twice-in-one-day-that-he-has-a-biology-degree

“I have a biology degree, okay?”

– Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), in remarks at the Lincoln Labs “Reboot Congress” conference, Feb. 12, 2015

This column has been updated with an additional explanation by Paul’s spokesman.

We first spotted a version of this quote in a Bloomberg column by David Weigel, and then checked the quotes with our colleague Jose DelReal, who had attended the conference.

This is a bit of an odd one, given that Paul does not have a college undergraduate degree.

The Facts

Paul mentioned his alleged degree at the conference not once, but twice. First, in an exchange with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Paul said:

Arrington: “Let’s talk about economics because maybe you can actually explain this to me. I have an econ degree which means I know just enough not to understand any of what our government is [inaudible]”

Paul: “Mine’s in biology and English so this is going to be a great conversation.”

Then, later in the conversation, expounding on what he considered the virtues of Bitcoin, Paul said:

“This is just me. I have a biology degree, okay? But with Bitcoin my concern always was whether or not something has real value. So I could imagine a kind of coin that was exchangeable. This gets back to the whole idea, does money have to be exchangeable for something to be of value?”
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