Monday, October 01, 2007
I Remember Reagan
And so, probably, do you -- though Maureen Dowd doesn't realize it:
Readily available population data shows that the percentage of Americans under 20 as of July 1, 2005,* is actually 27.6%. Linear interpolation puts the percentage under 18 years, 8 months around 25.7%. In other words, Dowd was off by more than the population of California.
This matters because the nepotism talking point is part of the Republican campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton if, as expected,** she is the nominee. Having already had their second Bush, the GOP now wants Americans to think that there's something wrong with electing a relative of a former President. Dowd's (and the AP's) innumeracy help that effort.
Related Posts: Is Maureen Dowd Glazed ... or Just Powdered?; Something Must Be Wrong ...
*This figure is generally stable but declining slightly over time, so the current figure is, if anything, likely slightly lower.
**Not an endorsement, or even a prediction.
| [A]s Nancy Benac of The Associated Press wrote on Friday, 116 million Americans — nearly 40 percent of the nation — “have never lived when there wasn’t a Bush or a Clinton in the White House.”A person born on the date of G.H.W. Bush's Inauguration would be 18 years, 8 months (and some days) old.
Readily available population data shows that the percentage of Americans under 20 as of July 1, 2005,* is actually 27.6%. Linear interpolation puts the percentage under 18 years, 8 months around 25.7%. In other words, Dowd was off by more than the population of California.
This matters because the nepotism talking point is part of the Republican campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton if, as expected,** she is the nominee. Having already had their second Bush, the GOP now wants Americans to think that there's something wrong with electing a relative of a former President. Dowd's (and the AP's) innumeracy help that effort.
Related Posts: Is Maureen Dowd Glazed ... or Just Powdered?; Something Must Be Wrong ...
*This figure is generally stable but declining slightly over time, so the current figure is, if anything, likely slightly lower.
**Not an endorsement, or even a prediction.
