Legal Commentary

Facts Are Stubborn Things

By Big Tent Democrat

Pundits ignore facts when they do not fit their narrative. First it was Frank Rich. Now it is Jonathan Alter (via Yglesias selling the nonsense):

It was the "Grandma Primary." Barack Obama lost Pennsylvania mostly because white working-class women over 60 dominated the contest to an astonishing degree, and they backed Hillary Clinton by more than 2-1. The big question is what that means for November. Obama carried men and younger and middle-aged voters, but that wasn't nearly enough.

This is false in every particular. [More...] The PA exit polls prove this. Clinton won ALL voters 40-49 by 54-46. She won ALL voters 50-64 by 57-43. these two age groups comprised 56% of the vote in Pennsylvania. Of course Clinton also won all whites 60 and older by 68-32. But she also won all whites 18-29 by 52-48. She also won all whites 30-44 by 58-42.

Jonathan Alter write an entire column that is premised on a gross falsehood. He approvingly quotes Obama saying ""If you look at the numbers, our problem has less to do with white working-class voters [than] with older voters." that is just false. Alter reports it as fact. This is now common from him. It is a shame. He was once a good journalist. See also Mark Blumenthal's debunking of this nonsense.

By Big Tent Democrat

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 11, 2008 (boomark / email).