Speaker of the North Carolina House and U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis has been lying about his college degree:
A day after questions surfaced about his alma mater, U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis said where he went to college shouldn’t matter and dismissed suggestions he misled voters.
In an interview Friday, the House speaker acknowledged his college diploma says “University of Maryland University System,” not the University of Maryland at College Park – which he repeatedly cited as his alma mater in interviews, a resume and his campaign websites, dating to 2003.
Even as he makes his background a central part of his campaign, the Republican downplayed the discrepancy, saying he has never campaigned on the source of his college diploma.
“I’ve never listed my education degree as why people should vote for me,” he said. “I think the average person is thinking more about what I’ve accomplished in my professional career and what I’ve accomplished in my career as a legislator.”
The campaign corrected the two websites, his LinkedIn profile and a legislative page Thursday, in response to questions raised in the Talking Points Memo political blog. A spokesman said they were written by campaign aides, not Tillis.
This is somewhat akin to Rand Paul’s serial plagiarism. It used to be totally disqualifying for higher office, but that no longer seems to be the case, at least in Republican circles. We keep lowering our standards, and, yes, I blame John McCain for forcing the entire right to spend three months defending the qualifications of Sarah Palin. That experience seems to have broken something permanently that urgently needs repair.
