So Politifact goes after another claim… one that is so unequivocal, so patent, so obvious, that when uttered by a Republican, one winces.
…because you can just see the “Mostly True” parsing lined up and ready to go. To wit:
Virginia needs a dose of Republican economic medicine to get out of a funk, says Glen Sturtevant, a Richmond School Board member who is running for the state Senate.
“Last year, we had zero percent growth in GDP in Virginia — zero percent,” Sturtevant said during an Aug. 18 candidates forum, sponsored by WCVE Richmond Public Radio. “The only states that did worse than us were Alaska and Mississippi.”
Thankfully, Politifact chooses to actually play the cards on the table this go around. Their findings?
Virginia’s GDP of about $427 billion last year was indeed flat — there was 0.0 percent inflation-adjusted growth from 2013. Only two states trailed the Old Dominion in growth: Mississippi and Alaska, which saw their state economies shrink. Nationally, inflation-adjusted GDP expanded by 2.2 percent last year.
These figures are preliminary, and Virginia’s position might improve slightly when the bureau releases its final report in September. Last year, for example, the preliminary report ranked Virginia 49th in economic growth in 2013; the final ranking pegged Virginia’s growth at 0.4 percent, 43rd among the states.
So the Virginia economy did grow at a paltry 0.4% — and even though the 0.0% growth number as reported is slightly off?
Politifact did the right thing and gave Sturtevant the thumbs up.
Much better, guys. Thumbs up from the commentariat.
