We’ve documented how Newsmax columnist Mark Schulte loves to dishonestly massage COVID-related statistics (and other numbers) to push right-wing narratives. He was at it again in his Aug. 30 column:
Democrat Colorado Gov. Jared Polis performed atrociously during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the state’s percentage increases in deaths from all causes, annually between 2020 and 2022, were significantly higher than the national averages.
But this colossal failure and others were ignored in an interview with the governor, conducted by veteran journalist John Stossel, which was published on the opinion page of the New York Post on Aug. 4, and in FrontPage Magazine on Aug. 10>.
In 2019, the first year of Polis’ tenure, Colorado suffered 39,400 deaths from all causes. But in 2020, there were 47,600 deaths, or a disastrous 21% increase.
In 2021, there were 49,100 deaths in Colorado, or a calamitous 25% increase from 2019.
And in 2022, there were 47,700 total deaths, or another 21% increase from three years earlier.
By contrast, America had 2,855,000 deaths from all causes in 2019, and 3,390,000 deaths in 2020, or a 19% increase.
There were 3,472,000 deaths in 2021, or a 22% increase from 2019.
In 2022, there were 3,288,000 deaths, or a 15% increase from three years earlier.
Thus, America’s average annual increase in fatalities is 19%, while Colorado’s is an even more abominable 22%.
In neighboring Kansas, the average annual increase in deaths from all causes is 11%, or one-half of Colorado’s deplorable rate.
In fact,according to CDC numbers, the COVID death rate in Coloradio is actually lower than that of Kansas. Schulte then tried to play gotcha with education scores, which … remained higher than national numbers:
Secondly, in the recent interview, Stossel didn’t confront Gov. Polis about the massive learning losses in Colorado public schools on the 2022 Nation’s Report Card.
On the 4th grade math and reading tests, Colorado students totaled 997 points, or 23 points fewer than the 1,020 points in 2019. Since 12 points equal one-grade level, they regressed by 1.9 years.
Nationally, the total score in 2022 for all 4th and 8th graders was 987 points, or 19 fewer than the 1,006 points three years earlier.
Schulte then did the same thing for unemployment numbers, which similarly showed Colorado on par with the nation:
Polis hypocritically chimed-in that “our businesses reopened really early.”
In fact, Colorado’s unemployment rate was 12.1% in April 2020 and 6.4% in April 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The national average dropped from 14.7% to 6.1% over this one year.
Nevertheless, he closed by insisting: “Undoubtedly, Colorado Gov. Polis has joined the infamous list of influential Americans, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who have unsuccessfully attempted to erase their egregious failures during the COVID-19 pandemic.” He had to cherry-pick a lot of numbers to reach that conclusion, and one can assume he did the same thing to attack Fauci and Weingarten.