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On the stump in Wisconsin on April 2, 2012, the Republican presidential candidate filled in his audience on something he was "just reading … last night."

"I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course. It’s not even available to be taught," he said. "Just to tell you how bad it's gotten in this country, where we're trying to disconnect the American people from the roots of who we are, so they have an understanding of what America should be."

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California has a two-tiered university system, with 23 campuses in the California State University system and 10 University of California campuses.

All 23 CSU campuses offer courses on U.S. History, the Constitution and American ideals, said Erik Fallis, media relations manager for the California State University — indeed, almost every student needs such a class (or two) to graduate.

The story is slightly different at the University of California, which also has an American history and institutions requirement. The graduation requirement can be satisfied with a high school class, except at UC Santa Barbara, which requires a college-level course.

Does that mean the campuses don’t offer American history courses? Not at all.

Of the nine University of California campuses that offer humanities classes — the San Francisco campus focuses exclusively on health sciences — all nine offer American history.

Do those classes get to "the roots of who we are," as Santorum said?

Well, among the offerings at UC Davis is "The American Revolution, 1763-1790." UC Riverside teaches upper-division courses on "Revolutionary America" and "The Early Republic: The United States, 1789-1848." UC Santa Cruz includes a course on the "U.S. Revolution: 1740-1815." UC Berkeley addresses, "The United States from Settlement to Civil War." UCLA has "History of the U.S. and Its Colonial Origins: 19th Century" and "Constitutional History of U.S.: Origins and Development of Constitutionalism in U.S."

Bottom line, of 33 state universities in California, just one, a health sciences campus, doesn’t teach American history — and nearly all graduates have to complete a related course to graduate, whether in high school or college.

What was Santorum talking about?

Santorum’s reading

We contacted Santorum’s campaign to ask for support for his claim but didn’t hear back.

So we tried tracing his reading material ourselves.

Eric Dolan, an editor for progressive news site Raw Story, noted that Santorum appeared to be making a reference to a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, "How California's Colleges Indoctrinate Students."

The March 30, 2012, column by Hoover Institution fellow Peter Berkowitz argues that higher education is politicized and declining in quality as its curriculum changes.

He notes: "None of the nine general campuses in the UC system requires students to study the history and institutions of the United States. None requires students to study Western civilization, and on seven of the nine UC campuses, including Berkeley, a survey course in Western civilization is not even offered."

Berkowitz is right that most University of California campuses don’t require a college-level course, with the exception of Santa Barbara — though they do require at least a high-school level class.

We didn’t check on class offerings in Western civilization, since that’s not what Santorum said.

Berkowitz also cites a recent report, called "A Crisis of Competence," from the National Association of Scholars, where he’s on the board of directors. It mentions that "the vast majority of our colleges have made a course on the broad themes of U.S. history or government optional."

Then it points out a laudable exception: The California State University system.

"All but three of the more than twenty campuses of the CSU system require American History and Institutions as an essential part of their curricula. But the situation in UC is very different: not a single UC campus has such a requirement. … To be sure, UC requires a year of U.S. history in high school for undergraduate admissions, but University of California level instruction ought to be on a completely different level – why otherwise would students need to go on to a university at all if high school coursework is equivalent?"

Santorum went much further than either Berkowitz or the National Association of Scholars report, declaring that at seven or eight universities in the California system, they "don’t even teach an American history course."

There’s simply no support for that claim.

Our ruling

Rick Santorum said, "I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course. It’s not even available to be taught." While he appeared to be referencing a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, he bungled the details — and badly. Far from "not available," American history courses are offered at all but one of 33 state universities in California. We rate his statement False.

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:
The Supreme Court has not struck down the central provision of a landmark federal statute since the 30's. So the court doing so now would be against eighty years of precedent.

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:
If "strong majority" does not matter why bring it up? Of course the law did pass with 60 votes in the Senate.

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Yes, the court has overturned federal laws in the last eighty years, but not large pieces of legislation such as this.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
The size of the law is immaterial. That's not ( or should not ) be a concern for the court. Regardless of Obama's heavy handed intervention and attempt to influence the courts decision, it should still rule on the merits and the RULE OF LAW, not to the myopic appeals of one egocentric President.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello Mike,

It may be a lie, but it's a truthy lie. It's filled with Truthiness. I bet almost everyone he spoke this lie to could feel the truthiness of it as they listened to his words. It has a slight peppermint aroma.

Universities hate America. Damn Liberal Intellectual Elite. Of COURSE there's no courses on U.S. History. And even if there are, it doesn't FEEL like there are.

Not to the true believers.

--Anthony



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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
It has a slight peppermint aroma.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello Mike,

It may be a lie, but it's a truthy lie. It's filled with Truthiness. I bet almost everyone he spoke this lie to could feel the truthiness of it as they listened to his words. It has a slight peppermint aroma.

Universities hate America. Damn Liberal Intellectual Elite. Of COURSE there's no courses on U.S. History. And even if there are, it doesn't FEEL like there are.

Not to the true believers.

--Anthony



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Note to self: Mr. Raptor believes that women who want to control their reproductive processes are sluts.

Reference thread: http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=18&t=51196

Never forget what this man is. You keep forgiving him his trespasses and speak to him as though he is a reasonable human being. You keep forgetting the things he's advocated. If you respond to this man again, you are being foolish.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

And it only passed by 12 votes , out of 435 , in the House.

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Originally posted by Storymark:
Yep, good ol' Rappy. A Republican is caught in a bald-faced lie - and it's all about Obamacare.

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the House by only 7 votes.


You're lying in at least one instance here. Was it 7, or was it 12? Can't be both.

If Obama's lying, then you're lying.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Storymark:
Yep, good ol' Rappy. A Republican is caught in a bald-faced lie - and it's all about Obamacare.

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You and Kwickie are petty, and wrong. Per usual.



* Note to everyone* - Do not believe Anthony. He does not know what he thinks he knows on matters concerning of what I think or believe.


" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

It was only 7 votes. I got 212 votes by the GOP and Dems who voted against it confused w/ just 12 votes. It was an honest mistake.

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Originally posted by Storymark:

Well, if YOU say so, it must be true. In RappyLand if nowhere else.

God, you're a riot. Do you even read your own posts? You went to Obamacare RIGHT-A-FUCKING WAY.

You didn't even address the topic of this thread - you, the douchenozzle who whines about people ignoring the topic if they say something about anything else in a thread.

Priceless.

*Note to everyone*: Anthony is spot-on. Pay no heed to Rappy's pleas for pity.

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