re: #724 JustMyView

The reason that most of the auto dealers being closed are dealers that contributed to Republican candidates is that most auto dealers contribute to Republican candidates. That is, if you’re an auto dealer who made a political contribution, it’s overwhelmingly likely that you contributed to a Republican. The fact that most of the to-be-closed dealers lean Republican is simply a reflection of the fact that most dealers lean Republican.

Two problems:
1) Nate Silver’s site, while interesting and full of flashy statistical analyses, is hardcore Democratic. Also, he uses HuffPo as a source.

2) His conclusion is that “most auto dealers are Republican, therefore there is nothing behind the claim that Chrysler dealers that didn’t donate to Obama are getting cut, and he admits to not having seen all the available data (“By comparison, the list of dealers on Doug Ross’s list “which I haven’t vetted, but I assume is fine”…).

So he has motive to fudge the numbers in favor of his stance, he has opportunity, and he has the weapon (statistical massaging). Considering that this story is only a few days old, I’m in the “let’s let the facts come out before we start comparing this to 9/11 Trooferism” corner. And KT should be happy, there are Democratic commenters over at 538 doing that just.