How to Manipulate Data: A Primer

I am beginning to wonder if there is a secret school for politicians where they hone their skills in telling skewed data to potential voters. There is data and then there data that is used to misrepresent rather than tell the truth. “When did you quit beating your wife?” Or the old Russian joke where the was a race with an American and a Russian which was reported in the Russian news, “Russians take second and Americans came in next to last in race.” Is this type of reporting becoming the norm? Following are examples from Politifact.

“Lt. Gov. Rebecca Keefisch says challenger Mahon Mitchell urged boycotts of more than 100 companies.” A letter was sent to M&I Bank saying if the bank didn’t oppose Walker’s reform law the letter signers would boycott M&I Bank. M&I bank has 100 branches. So, it is true but misleading. A similar case was with KwikTrip, which also has 100 stores.

More famous, “Tom Barrett say GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ‘caused’ top job losses in the U.S.” Of course Walker did promised he’s create 250,000 jobs in his first term which was just grandiose thinking and untrue. In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal a federal report showed Wisc. Lost 23,900 jobs from March 3011 to March 2012 which included 17,800 gov. jobs and 6,100 private jobs. That was true. The implication is that Walkers actions directed caused job losses ignoring all other factors. There is a lot more stuff going on in the country that Walker’s stuff, odious as it is. Another half truth; as PolitiFact states it, “Barrett said Walker ‘has caused Wisconsin to lose more jobs than any other state in the country.’ He is accurate of the job losses over overstates Walker’s role in causing them. Rated half truth.

In April of this year Kathleen Falk says under her leadership Dane County topped other areas in job growth. Similar to the above, the data is true, but her role is exaggerated. Rated half-True.

Feb 17 Gov. Walker says $247,000 per job CAPCO program was approved by former Gov. Jim Doyle. Conclusion is that Walker tried to blame his predecessor Jim Dole, but he was off by 5 years and two governors Thompson and Scott McCallum, Dole had nothing to do with the bill. Conclusion a flat lie; pants on fire.

Well I could go on and on with other individuals, but it is clear that both parties don’t give us clear facts but skewed information that misleads the electorate.

When the debate takes place will the governor candidates take each other on concerning this issues or just continue to tell half truths and even lies?

Here some I took of the PoliticFact blog on Obama’s role in the recession: (sorry the fancy little truth-o-meters don't show up. You can click on each item for the full story.)

·         April 12, 2012 Mitt Romney: "What president has the worst record on female labor force participation? Barack Obama." — Mostly False

·         April 6, 2012 Mitt Romney: Says Obama has failed to pass a budget. — Mostly False

·         February 6, 2012Does Obama 'demonize,' 'denigrate' almost every sector of our economy?

·         January 8, 2012 Mitt Romney: "We're only inches away from no longer being a free economy." — Pants on Fire!

·         January 7, 2012Fact-checking the New Hampshire debates

·         November 11, 2011 State Tea Party Express: "In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has created a manufacturing-led jobs recovery. 30,000 new jobs were created this year, with 15,000 created in the struggling manufacturing sector." — Half-True

·         October 31, 2011PolitiFact Georgia recounts Mitt Romney's Greatest Hits

·         October 11, 2011 Mitt Romney: In the early 1960s, all levels of government were "consuming about 27 percent of the U.S. economy," a number that has risen to 37 percent today. With that trendline, "we cease at some point to be a free economy." — Mostly False

·         September 8, 2011 National Republican Senatorial Committee: Sherrod Brown "has stood side by side" with President Barack Obama, presiding "over the most rapid increase in the debt over the last 2.5 years" and hurtling toward " the worst jobs record in the modern era." — Half-True

·         August 12, 2011 Mitt Romney: "We're inches away from no longer having a free economy." — Pants on Fire!

·         August 5, 2011Fact-checking claims on jobs from across the nation

·         July 29, 2011 Bill O'Reilly: Since 1965, the United States has spent "untold trillions" yet the poverty rate hasn’t budged. — False

·         July 28, 2011 Leonard Lance: "Recently we have seen our government debt grow by $3.4 trillion during the first 29 months of the Obama administration -- the equivalent of about $4 billion per day." — Half-True

·         July 7, 2011 Barack Obama: Says that when President Bill Clinton raised the top tax rates to levels now proposed by Obama, the country experienced significant job growth. — Half-True

·         July 5, 2011 National Republican Congressional Committee: U.S. Reps. John Barrow and Sanford Bishop and their fellow Democrats "went on a spending spree and now their credit card is maxed out." — False

·         June 27, 2011 Harry Reid: "Hispanic unemployment has been ticking down from an all-time high of 13.9 percent because of the policies we’ve implemented." — Mostly False

·         June 22, 2011 National Republican Congressional Committee: "As the Democrats finally maxed out their government spending credit card Monday, Kurt Schrader continued to stand with his party leaders in failing to offer any viable long-term solution." — False

·         June 2, 2011Testing Mitt Romney on the Truth-O-Meter

·         June 2, 2011 Mitt Romney: "We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy." — Pants on Fire!

·         June 2, 2011 National Republican Congressional Committee: "Gerry Connolly and his fellow Democrats went on a spending spree and now their credit card is maxed out." — Mostly False

• June 1, 2011 National Republican Congressional Committee: Says that PolitiFact Ohio confirms that Betty Sutton "maxed out federal debt" — Pants on Fire!
• May 31, 2011 National Republican Congressional Committee: "Betty Sutton and her fellow Democrats went on a spending spree and now their credit card is maxed out." — Mostly False
• October 28, 2010 Barack Obama: Stabilizing the recent financial crisis "will cost less than 1 percent of GDP," which is less than the 2.5 percent to fix the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. — Half-True
• October 16, 2010 Lee Fisher: "If you want to see the jobs that I've saved and created in this storm he helped create, go anywhere in Ohio." — Mostly True
• September 30, 2010 Barack Obama: The Republican election platform "was actually written with the help of a former lobbyist for AIG and a former lobbyist for Exxon-Mobil." — Half-True
• June 2, 2010 Mark Critz: "The Democratic Congress has already taken significant steps to create jobs and jump-start the economy, resulting in the lowest tax rates in over 50 years and the creation of over 500,000 new jobs so far this year." — Half-True
• January 29, 2010 Jeb Hensarling: "What were the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats." — False
• January 25, 2010 Carolyn Maloney: Democratic presidents "have been considerably more effective at creating private-sector jobs." — True
• November 2, 2009 Tom McClintock: Three presidents in the last century — Harding, Kennedy and Reagan — all cut taxes during recessions and produced "rapid and dramatic economic recoveries," while two, Herbert Hoover and Barack Obama, did "the opposite." — False
• September 8, 2009 Glenn Beck: Van Jones "is an avowed, self-avowed radical revolutionary communist." — Mostly False
• August 13, 2009Health care reform: A simple explanation
• June 23, 2009 Lynn Westmoreland: The war spending bill "actually spends more money on the International Monetary Fund than on the war." — Mostly False
• September 17, 2008 Barack Obama: McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm is "the architect of some of the deregulation in Washington that helped cause the mess on Wall Street." — Half-True