Where do “they” come up with these numbers. The following made headlines just over a month ago, but something over the weekend brought it back to mind. This time I thought about it. There is a fact here, but the percentage is bunkum. If I’m missing the point, please, someone, set me straight.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 Forty percent of Americans have never lived when there wasn’t a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. … Already, for 116 million Americans, there has never been a time when there wasn’t a Bush or Clinton in the White House, either as president or vice president. Does a nation of 303 million people really have only two families qualified to run the show?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This Associated Press article by Nancy Benac<\/a> from late September or early October does not quite attribute where she got her 40 percent from, except from the numbers 116,000,000 and 303,000,000, and that’s actually about 38.3 percent. So 40 percent is true, but 40 percent of what, again?<\/p>\n
Benac does not explain this, although lots of commentators<\/a> have taken the 40 percent and run with it<\/a>. She does not explain the math, and she does not attribute the statistic. Her main source is separated by a few paragraphs, and is a political historian, Julian Zelizer, now of Princeton. The article does not come close to implying he’s behind the figure.<\/p>\n
How many Americans alive today have had a Bush or Clinton as president? Didn’t we just ask that? Because there are 303 million Americans today, then 303 million Americans have had a Bush or Clinton as president. One hundred percent, off the top of my head.<\/p>\n
The lede graf is a double negative. Maybe if we lift the canceled no’s, thusly: Forty percent of Americans have lived when there was a Bush or a Clinton in the White House.<\/p>\n
Doesn’t help. Where does the quoted 116 million come from?<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s another 40 percent. Because Sen. Clinton winning two terms is part of this important news story, we can set the time machine to Jan. 20, 2017. Does the article state or predict how many Americans will be alive then? No. The 36 years mentioned in the article backs up the time machine to January 1981 when George I became vice president, or 28 years from January 1989 when he was sworn in as president. I’m not sure when vice presidents began running the country.<\/p>\n
Are we talking everyone who is living at any time between the years 1981 or 1989 and now, or 1981\/89 and 2017? If we are using that as a sample<\/em>, then what is the population<\/em> that’s 60 percent?<\/p>\n
If the population stays still — no one lives or dies until Jan. 21. 2017 — hey, you, don’t touch that, don’t eat that, all right, go run a lap then take a cold shower — then everyone who is older than 37 years old will remember … Jimmy Carter?<\/p>\n
-40-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where do “they” come up with these numbers. The following made headlines just over a month ago, but something over the weekend brought it back to mind. This time I thought about it. There is a fact here, but the percentage is bunkum. If I’m missing the point, please, someone, set me straight. WASHINGTON \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":204,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/07\/tie-one-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":0},"title":"Tie One On","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It should have been Bill Clinton who brought more informality to the White House during his eight years, but credit here has to go to George W. Bush. Clinton seems to have moved everywhere with a coffee mug indoors and a to-go cup away from home. President Bush is shown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/11\/a-long-night-just-ended\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":1},"title":"A long night just ended","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004. It is, absurdly, nearly 3 in the morning. My newsroom did not bring in boxes and boxes of mediocre pizza but decent barbecue for the Election Night crew. Unfortunately, I don't eat meat, so the slaw and beans kept me going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/01\/we-all-scream\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":2},"title":"We all scream","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Friday, Jan. 23, 2004. I like Howard Dean. I didn't care one way or the other before the night of the Iowa caucuses and that speech of his, Jan. 20. Now I don't know if he should be elected president or even the Democratic nominee;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":396,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/01\/an-endorsement-iowa\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":3},"title":"An Endorsement, Iowa","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Iowa: I know you a little. I've been visiting almost every year since 1991. You house my in-laws. A lot in common with Arkansas: Mainly rural. Your shape. A prominent capital city instead of a tucked-away one like Jeff City or Austin (that's a little joke). You held on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":766,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/12\/friendly-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":4},"title":"Friendly Fire","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The shoe bomber, that is the shoe thrower, launched his attack 13 days ago, Dec. 14, and the story still has news legs. It should be ignored but the \"attention must be paid\" (A. Miller), then it might go away. The success of the attack by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5259,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/11\/meta-trump\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":5},"title":"Never Meta Trump Like This","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shy of a Load The Nov. 8 Saturday Night Live, hosted by magnate Donald Trump, was more significant than hilarious, although it was lots funnier than most\u00a0weekend pundits claim. A scan of\u00a0website headlines shows mine\u00a0is a minority view. 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