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babylonsister

(170,962 posts)
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:20 AM Jun 2014

I'm SHOCKED! Brat didn't go to Princeton Univ.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/liveblog/live-update-the-cantor-upset/?id=624e2f5c-2d6b-4106-b65a-c4d9af55495b


Brat didn't go to Princeton Univ.


Economics professor and political giant killer David Brat appears to have done a little biographical inflation on his campaign website.

One of his “About Dave” selling points: “that he tested his rural values against the intellectual elite while at Princeton.”

But Brat never attended Princeton University,
home to just the type of elites – we’re looking at you, Paul Krugman – some conservatives love to bash. “We have no record under that name,” said Princeton University spokesman Martin Mbugua.

Alas, Brat’s full 17-page CV lays out the facts: His Master of Divinity, Brat writes, came from Princeton Theological Seminary – a well-regarded institution, but far from the hotbed of Krugman-like liberal excess some conservatives may have imagined.

Mbugua said people occasionally “make an association between the institutions here in Princeton, an incorrect association.” The two independent institutions simply “happen to be in the same town,” Mbugua said.

We’ve emailed the Brat campaign seeking comment and will update this post when they respond.

Michael Laris
June 11, 11:54 am



44 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I'm SHOCKED! Brat didn't go to Princeton Univ. (Original Post) babylonsister Jun 2014 OP
heh heh heh JustAnotherGen Jun 2014 #1
it's probably the tip of the ice berg warrior1 Jun 2014 #2
Are you saying the little brat fibbed?! sheshe2 Jun 2014 #3
Wouldn't fibbing be discussed at Divinity School? FSogol Jun 2014 #7
Not to mention shouldn't the divinity school be upset that he is not proud of it? karynnj Jun 2014 #18
So, how is being caught in a lie going to hurt a Republican's chances? Jackpine Radical Jun 2014 #4
at a high school ceremony when they announced who would be attending princeton, unblock Jun 2014 #9
Actually, coming from Princeton wont help him anymore than Hartford helps Ted Cruz randys1 Jun 2014 #27
It really does show something when people deliberately mislead about their resume karynnj Jun 2014 #5
You are right. He only had 2 paid staffers underpants Jun 2014 #15
ROFL Cantor is going to keep leaking his opponent research he didn't use because he didn't think he JCMach1 Jun 2014 #6
But he did go to Harvard. Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #8
Frog Level? Oh you think you are sooooo funny underpants Jun 2014 #10
Caroline County. Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #12
AND they have a parade underpants Jun 2014 #14
There is a Republican Grove, VA and a Steel Tavern, VA. FSogol Jun 2014 #19
There's a Six Mile Bottom near where I used to live. N.T. Donald Ian Rankin Jun 2014 #23
I've got y'all beat. Fawke Em Jun 2014 #25
We used to drive down through Rabbit Hash Erich Bloodaxe BSN Jun 2014 #30
Ha! underpants Jun 2014 #35
We used to call our local community college UCLA Hassin Bin Sober Jun 2014 #11
There's also the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Tommy_Carcetti Jun 2014 #13
There's a Notre Dame College in Ohio as well. I dated a girl from there bullwinkle428 Jun 2014 #16
you dirty rat randys1 Jun 2014 #31
That was actually just a mail-order degree from Rienceton University* Blue Owl Jun 2014 #17
must have done it when he stopped in for a visit 2pooped2pop Jun 2014 #20
uh-oh, someone's fibbin'! Thanks for the info. nt Zorra Jun 2014 #21
Its putting out the word "Princeton" and just letting it hang out there in the air. madaboutharry Jun 2014 #22
A conservative lied? In other news water is wet. EEO Jun 2014 #24
Brat is clearly ashamed of his Theological education. Otherwise he would have been honest about TeamPooka Jun 2014 #26
I've watched a few minutes from a couple of his videos. He mentioned Princeton Seminary in both. DesMoinesDem Jun 2014 #37
I am being snarky about his lie of omission on his webpage. TeamPooka Jun 2014 #39
Does he have a PhD in economics? BainsBane Jun 2014 #28
It doesn't add up cap Jun 2014 #29
There's no rule about that. PTS takes students of different Christian faiths. pnwmom Jun 2014 #33
PTS may have open admissions cap Jun 2014 #41
I'm Catholic and it doesn't sound strange to me. For example, pnwmom Jun 2014 #44
He's not a Catholic. Brickbat Jun 2014 #43
3..2..1.. The right will try to equate this with berni_mccoy Jun 2014 #32
Princeton accepts 7% of its applicants. PTS accepts 41%. pnwmom Jun 2014 #34
Eeeees like beer. AtheistCrusader Jun 2014 #36
well I myself attended Harvard Bombero1956 Jun 2014 #38
What's his time in the marathon? central scrutinizer Jun 2014 #40
he was a consultant to the World Bank Jeneral2885 Jun 2014 #42

karynnj

(59,474 posts)
18. Not to mention shouldn't the divinity school be upset that he is not proud of it?
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:00 PM
Jun 2014

This is not a matchbook college - it is a real divinity school with real professors and reputation. So - it is not Ivy League.

Shouldn't the tea party, of all people, have a problem with a person - so enamored with elitist Ivy League credentials that he misleads - when instead he could have spoken of his unusual background of economics and divinity school.

The odd thing is the schools he went to probably mattered more in academia than in the VA election.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
4. So, how is being caught in a lie going to hurt a Republican's chances?
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:32 AM
Jun 2014

More like a job qualification, I'd say.

Most of his base probly hasn't heard of Princeton in any case.

unblock

(51,974 posts)
9. at a high school ceremony when they announced who would be attending princeton,
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:57 AM
Jun 2014

my parents overheard some other parents behind them in the audience saying

woman: "princeton, where's that?"

man: "it's near cincinnati, honey."

sure enough, there is indeed a princeton near cincinnati, ohio.
not a university, not even a town, just a k-12 school district called princeton.

randys1

(16,286 posts)
27. Actually, coming from Princeton wont help him anymore than Hartford helps Ted Cruz
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:40 PM
Jun 2014

teabaggers hate universities, college educations, etc., cuz most of them dont have one and dont know why...

They dont know that the very system they support is the system that made it impossible for them to get a higher education..

karynnj

(59,474 posts)
5. It really does show something when people deliberately mislead about their resume
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:39 AM
Jun 2014

Here, the man is a college professor with a PHD from a very credible university. You would think that - especially among the tea party that thought being a Harvard professor could be a negative in MASSACHUSETTS, that wanting to imply that you had some Ivy League background would not even be a winning point. Not to mention there is an irony of using attendance at a DIVINITY school to mislead about your resume.

He obviously had to approve his web site. This is NOT like it would be for a Presidential candidate or even a sitting Senator or Congressman, where the campaign web site would likely be created by the campaign and reviewed by a trusted high level aide for a candidate who could not really micromanage everything. I suspect this will be blamed on someone in his staff freelancing because he (she) misunderstood and thought the Seminary was part of the University.

underpants

(182,271 posts)
15. You are right. He only had 2 paid staffers
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:23 AM
Jun 2014

One of which was a 23 yr old former student ( I think) who scrubbed his FB rant filled page Tuesday night.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025083927

Brat knew full well what was on his website. Had to.

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
6. ROFL Cantor is going to keep leaking his opponent research he didn't use because he didn't think he
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:42 AM
Jun 2014

needed it...

This is too funny...

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,080 posts)
8. But he did go to Harvard.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:52 AM
Jun 2014

The Phil Harvard School of Aromatherapy, located in Frog Level, Virginia, between the Food Lion and the Subway sandwich shop.

underpants

(182,271 posts)
10. Frog Level? Oh you think you are sooooo funny
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:01 AM
Jun 2014

Which Frog Level? We have two. The one in Caroline county or Tazewell?

I had to google it and cracked up when I found that there are TWO Frog Levels here in Va.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,080 posts)
12. Caroline County.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:06 AM
Jun 2014

As a kid, my family would always drive through Frog Level on US 301 when we drove south from Maryland before meeting up with 95 in Richmond. The name was always amusing to me, which is why it's the first place that came to my mind when considering the area around Cantor's district. My only experience in Frog Level, however, was an emergency pit stop at some hole in the wall bar, where I (as a 10 year old) was directed towards one of the most decrepit restrooms I've ever seen in my life.

I don't think there's actually a Food Lion in Caroline County's Frog Level (at least there wasn't when I was a kid.) Who knows, maybe there's one in Tazewell County Frog Level.

FSogol

(45,356 posts)
19. There is a Republican Grove, VA and a Steel Tavern, VA.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:08 PM
Jun 2014

My personal favorite: Parnassus, VA. Haven't met the oracle there yet.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,080 posts)
13. There's also the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:14 AM
Jun 2014

Which was actually a fairly respectable woman's college in Baltimore, but is not to be confused with the Notre Dame of Knute Rockne fame.

The unfortunate thing about Maryland's Notre Dame was the unintended anagram. College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Rather ironic for a Catholic college, don't you think?

bullwinkle428

(20,626 posts)
16. There's a Notre Dame College in Ohio as well. I dated a girl from there
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:24 AM
Jun 2014

for a little while when I was student at CWRU in Cleveland.

Blue Owl

(49,913 posts)
17. That was actually just a mail-order degree from Rienceton University*
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 11:29 AM
Jun 2014

*an unaccredited institution of higher obfuscation

 

2pooped2pop

(5,420 posts)
20. must have done it when he stopped in for a visit
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:15 PM
Jun 2014

Did it say he attended? He could have done anything while in the parking lot of Princeton.

madaboutharry

(40,149 posts)
22. Its putting out the word "Princeton" and just letting it hang out there in the air.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:21 PM
Jun 2014

Although Josh Marshall, an actual graduate of Princeton University, wrote on Talking Points Memo that he doesn't see it as much of an issue, I think there was intent to mislead. When you hear the words "that he tested his rural values against the intellectual elite while at Princeton," I at least, would be left with the impression that he is referring to Princeton Universtiy. Princeton Theological Seminary is not what people think of when they hear "Princeton." I think the reference is intentionally misleading, otherwise it would have been specifically spelled out.

TeamPooka

(24,155 posts)
26. Brat is clearly ashamed of his Theological education. Otherwise he would have been honest about
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:39 PM
Jun 2014

he went to school.

cap

(7,170 posts)
29. It doesn't add up
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:43 PM
Jun 2014

Why would Brat go to a Presbyterian school, Princeton Theological Seminary, but describe himself as Catholic? Why didn't he go to Notre Dame or Georgetown or Fordham?

To study theology, you generally go to a school that belongs to your faith.


Speaking of Catholicism, why isn't he following the church's doctrine on social justice? The church does not approve of Ayn Rand or any form of libertarian economics.

I think a good hearty discussion of his faith is in order, especially since so many of his tea bag constituents are evangelicals who have never trusted Catholics.

cap

(7,170 posts)
41. PTS may have open admissions
Fri Jun 13, 2014, 09:34 AM
Jun 2014

But it's not a catholic school. A lot of us Catholics are wondering why he went there.

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
44. I'm Catholic and it doesn't sound strange to me. For example,
Fri Jun 13, 2014, 09:56 AM
Jun 2014

I remember when Father Henri Nouwen, renowned Catholic theologian, taught at Yale Divinity School. I heard him speak there once.

I'm assuming PTS, like Yale and other Mdiv schools, employs faculty from a variety of Christian backgrounds. If you're not actually studying to be a Catholic priest (not all seminary students are), then there's no particular reason to go to a Catholic seminary.

 

berni_mccoy

(23,018 posts)
32. 3..2..1.. The right will try to equate this with
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:53 PM
Jun 2014

Warren and claiming her native American status even though the two aren't even remotely the same.

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
34. Princeton accepts 7% of its applicants. PTS accepts 41%.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 01:12 PM
Jun 2014

One teaches science and engineering, among other topics. The other one teaches religion.

Other than that, they're pretty much the same.

Bombero1956

(3,539 posts)
38. well I myself attended Harvard
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 01:26 PM
Jun 2014

The Harvard School of TV watching majoring in Star Trek the Final Frontier and a minor in Rocky & Bullwinkle heroes of Frostbite Falls.

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