Friday, November 21, 2008

Deceiving the Public: Wingnut Presents Misleading Data; Zogby Admits Problem

When you don't have the facts, make 'em up! Manipulate the data! Nobody will know the difference, right?

Wrong! As evidence, we present the following dust up (based on real, true, actual facts!) that undermines one of the popular conservative claims about the election of Barack Obama.

It seems that a conservative operator named John Zielger commissioned the Zogby organization to conduct a survey of presidential voters. Not being especially interested in matters of fairness or truth, Zielger created the questions in a peculiar fashion, one which asked Obama voters about controversial charges lodged against the president-elect.

When the poll got the expected results, Ziegler and the right-wing blogosphere had a field day, reporting data that appeared to show Obama voters were misinformed by the media. The data was so "good" (read: cooked) that Zielger set up a popular website featuring the information.

The news made the Oklahoma blogsphere as well, thanks to Tulsa Republican Michael Bates and OKC's Mike McCarville.

Too bad it was all crap, as we now know.

The Wall Street Journal, for instance, investigated the Zogby poll and published a not-very-flattering piece on the results. The article noted that the poll "interpreted the numbers from the survey in a misleading fashion."

Pollster.com has also weighed in, with the same conclusion.

Even John Zogby has distanced himself from the poll. He told reporters that the poll was put together while he was on vacation. Zogby added: “I also believe it was not our finest hour. This slipped through the cracks. It came out critical only of Obama voters.”

Oh really? Wasn't that Ziegler's point? Of course it was. So much for, well, honesty.

Now we're waiting for our Sooner state friends, Bates and McCarville, to own up to their mistake, the mistake of publishing crap from the right and pretending it's actually true.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moody's and S&P made huge bucks by rating Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDOs) as AAA, same as low-risk items like U.S. Treasuries or companies like Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

They were being paid to call these sh*t sandwiches pâté de foie gras by the "chefs."

Good lesson for you, Zogby. If you let customers control your results in exchange for cash, you will soon have no credibility.

Bates doesn't care if he is spreading manure. He's too busy trying to earn the next wingnut merit badge by passing along this crap indiscriminately.

Anonymous said...

I see McCarville placed this smelly McNugget onto his site with a pair of tongs, i.e., with no comment except a piece of clip art.