The Atlantic - "False Equivalence That Leans on Public Opinion Is Still False Equivalence"

[TomCADem]

Here is a nice article the destroys a National Journal writer's argument that relies on polls to justify false equivalency. If we relied on polls, then you could have a have a spirited debate as to whether the President was born in Kenya, but that does not mean that this fact is seriously in dispute.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/false-equivalence-that-leans-on-public-opinion-is-still-false-equivalence/280448/

Here's a fact: The deficit is falling. Here's another fact: Americans don't know the deficit is falling. The point isn't that Americans are stupid. They have busy lives and concerns that have nothing to do with the annual gap between taxes and outlays. Instead, the point is that public-opinion polls don't belong on the same plane as facts and informed analysis, because they qualify as neither.

Smash-cut to the government showdown: The last few weeks have seen a sort of media-insider debate (which I hope is interesting to people who aren't just media insiders) about whether journalists are wrong to blame both parties for a shutdown that seems rather obviously to be a Republican creation. Jim Fallows has obsessively tracked these instances of "false equivalence" or "pox on both houses" journalism that makes Democrats seem similarly blameworthy for a shutdown they're playing very little part in.

In a piece today for National Journal, Ron Fournier leans on public opinion to show that, no, in fact, both Republicans and Democrats deserve a big serving of blame for the shut-down government, because Americans think they're both to blame.

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In other words, we can all agree that Republicans are responsible for the shutdown, but public opinion also blames the Democrats, and so in Fournier's own words "it is a pox on both houses."[/div]

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. Public opinion being wrong used to be seen as a FAILURE OF JOURNALISM.