Rah, Rah, Rah! Other States Are Worse Than Us! 8/09

Governor Martin O'Malley sounds like a tired and worn-out cheerleader when he goes into the tiresome "other states are worse than us" refrain.

But it seems to work.  His media apologists fall in line with pom-poms as headlines blare: "Could Be Worse, O'Malley Tells Marylanders."

However, if you read beyond the editor's headlines, reporters and columnists do show some skepticism of the overall claim.

John Wagner of the Washington Post ("Could Be Worse, O'Malley Tells Marylanders") noted that O'Malley's speeches pull figures from economic reports "selectively" and offered the following contrasting quotes:

          Governor O'Malley - "There's no stronger ship in the nation than the good ship Maryland."

          Delegate Murray D. Levy (D-Charles) - "Maryland saying we're not as bad off as other states is kind of like saying we have the best room on the Titanic."

Is O'Malley's media ploy working? Not according to a web poll - "Are the state budget problems caused by the poor economy or poor management?" - conducted this week by Fox 45 News.  Over 78% of the respondents believed that Maryland's budget problem is solely the result of poor management by state officials. Poor management was also a contributing factor for the 19% respondents who choose that "both" the poor economy and poor management was at fault. 

In total, 97.71% of respondents believe poor budget managment to be a major factor in the state's budget woes and only 2.38% attribute O'Malley's budget crisis to the poor economy.

Better bring out more cheerleaders on this one - cause the voting constituency ain't buyin' it yet.