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Jerry Brown Gives Washington Times Reporter a History Lesson

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The guv sparred with a Washington Times reporter on Sunday. Call it a TKO.

Speaking of Jerry Brown, here's one you gotta read. Jerry Brown, in Washington yesterday, got into it with a reporter from the conservative Washington Times after Brown's meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The LA Times has the exchange. Here's the part where Brown corrects the reporter on some basic facts...

Reporter: I understand that you’ve gotten some criticism that you’ve ceded way too much to the unions.

Brown: Give me an example.

Reporter: As far as the education, teachers unions, and just as far as some of the contracts that have been negotiated, that you could be making the same mistake that you made in your last administration...

Brown: Which one was that?

Reporter: … Back in the day.

Brown: When California had a $6-billion surplus and was leading America, if not the world, in many different fields?

Reporter: Well, right now it’s going bankrupt.

Brown: That’s untrue. I’ve reduced the deficit that was left to me by a Republican governor from $26 billion to $9 billion and I have a plan to reduce it to zero.

And...

Reporter: No, actually, because when Reagan came in later on, things actually changed.

Brown: No, Reagan came before me. Reagan came after my father and then I came after Reagan.

Reporter: And then you actually lost your term thereafter, no?

Brown: No, I’m the only Democratic governor in history to serve three terms. In fact only two governors have ever served a third term.

Reporter: So why is it then, that we’re seeing from the bankruptcy though...

Gil Duran, Brown spokesman: There is no bankruptcy. That’s a lie. You’re lying.

Brown: California has a $2-trillion economy.

Reporter: Why am I a liar?

Brown: Last year… Are you a Moonie by any chance?

Reporter: Sir…

That last part's a reference to the fact that the paper was founded by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. A group affiliated with Moon bought the paper back from his son in 2010. So call this one Moonbeam versus Moonies.

Read the whole exchange here.

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