Presidential Math

In his press conference of Oct 25th, President Bush used the following to attack the Democrats,

If you don't extend the tax cuts, if you don't make them -- in other words, if you let the tax cuts expire, it will be a tax increase on the American people. Take the child tax credit. If it is not made permanent—in other words, if it expires—and you've got a family of four sitting around the breakfast table, the taxpayers can be sure that their taxes will go up by $2,000: $500 for that child, $500 for the one right there; $500 for this one and $500 for that one. That is a tax increase. And taking $2,000 out of the pockets of the working people will make it harder to sustain economic growth.

First, the Child Tax Credit has already been extended at $1,000 per child until 2010, so he is raising his usual false scare tactic.

Second, he cannot name a single Democrat who has suggested altering the Child Tax Credit in any manner whatsoever.

Third, does anyone know of any "family of four sitting around the breakfast table" that has four children? Ummm, what happened to the parents? Not quite a typical American family.

Fourth, what is that $500 per child about? From "financialplan.about.com"

The credit was set to revert to $700 for each qualifying child in 2005, but Congress passed the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 to keep the Child Tax Credit at $1,000 per qualifying child through 2010, as long as you are within the income thresholds for your filing status.

So he could have used $300, or $700, or $1,000 but what hat did he pull that $500 figure from?

Or did he pull the whole thing from a region considerably lower than his hat?