This discrepancy, posted by Glenn Thrush of Politico with a hat tip to Don Stewart and Josh Holmes of Senator Mitch McConnell office, typifies where President Barack Obama (D) gets his numbers and information.

Whether explaining the positive effects of his trillion dollar stimulus debt, savings from his government health care proposals or the number of states in the U.S., Obama seems to get his numbers from the same source--thin air ie, he makes them up to suit his purpose.

Obama's speech tonight: "There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage."

Obama presser, Guadalajara, Mexico, 8/10/09: "We've got 46-47 million people without health insurance in our country."

Hey, what's a 50% mistake coming from a president who is a Harvard Law School graduate?

Rick Moran adds:

More than "30 million American citizens who can't get coverage"? Even the bogus statistics used by liberals point out that there are at least 8 million and probably 14 million American citizens who can easily afford health insurance but choose not to have it. That isn't even close to "citizens who can't get coverage."

Nor does Obama's fantasy number include those who are in between jobs and will pick up health insurance once they are employed. Again, statistics are contradictory depending on the study but anywhere from 6-10 million Americans fall into this category. And again, these people who currently don't have health insurance are a far cry from "citizens who can't get coverage."

The fact: the number of citizens who "can't get coverage" is probably in the range of 9-14 million and most of them would be eligible for Medicaid, and their children would be eligible for S-CHIP. The fact that they have not signed up for these programs does not mean they "can't get coverage."

Finally, Obama's careful walk back from 46 million was probably done because that number includes illegal aliens who aren't insured. And we know that no illegal aliens will be included in Obamacare, right?

Right?