More Molly Math Mishaps

This from Bush-hating Molly Ivins' June 28 column:

I think we have alienated our allies and have killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did.

No, Ivins' claim can't be true, can it?

So Michelle Malkin posted, "Molly Ivins Said What?" Malkin was sure Ivins made her calculations using Ivins' unique Molly Math system, which treats numbers the same way the Mad Hatter treated logic.

Sure enough, Malkin was right.

Using conventional mathematics, bloggers Arthur Chrenkoff and Confederate Yankee confirmed that Ivins' claim was only possible if Molly Math was used.

Here's some of Chrenkoff's finding:

Really? More than all those dead Kurds of the Anfal Operation and the Shia of the '91 uprising, more than all the other domestic opponents butchered over the years? And I'm not even counting the hundreds of thousands of lives wasted by Saddam in his two wars of aggression

And some of Confederate Yankee's finding (CY contacted Malkin by e-mail so no link. Text at Malkin's post):

Take estimates of 500,000-1 million soldiers and civilians killed in the Iran-Iraq war triggered by Saddam Hussein, add the 400,000 dead Iraqi civilians USAID estimates to be in at least 53 mass graves found in Iraq so far, and then add the very conservative estimate of 22,000 dead as a result of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait=1,422,000.

So much for Ivins' America-bashing claim.

Molly's America "killed more Iraqis than Saddam" hokkum is only the latest example of Molly Math in action.

There are some choice examples at a Powerlineblog post, More Social Security Follies.

Here's one: In September 2003 Ivins' informed her readers that "the economy is in the toilet." At about the same time, the government reported that GDP growth was at 7.2%, the highest rate for any quarter in 20 years.

Be sure to read the whole Powerlineblog post. It will cause everyone but Ivins' devoted readers to laugh and groan.