David Brooks aborts middle-class blacks

[Cocoa]

from his statistical analysis...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200510250001

In his October 23 column, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that President Bush's "recasting" of conservatism away from "the Government-Is-the-Problem philosophy of the mid-'90s" has contributed to transforming the Republican party into "the party of the middle class." To support this claim, Brooks wrote that "Bush beat Kerry among whites earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year by 22 percentage points." In other words, under Brooks' reasoning, "the middle class" is synonymous with white people earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year.

Had Brooks considered the entire "middle class" -- including non-whites -- within the income levels he identified, he would have found the margin to be much slimmer. In fact, 2004 exit poll data show that Bush's margin over Kerry for voters of all races earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year was seven percentage points (53 percent to 46 percent), only four points more than Bush's margin in 2000 and one point more than President Clinton's 1996 middle-class margin of six points over Republican Bob Dole:

<snip>

Non-whites made up 22 percent of $30,000-to-$75,000 income earners in 2003, according to the Census Bureau's 2004 Community Population Survey. The skew of Brooks' chosen data can be seen in a breakdown of the 2004 vote by race: According to 2004 exit polls, Bush won among white voters of all income levels by 17 percentage points (58 percent to 41 percent). He did not gain a majority of any other race's vote; for example, 88 percent of African-Americans voted for Kerry, and only 11 percent voted for Bush; 58 percent of Hispanics voted for Kerry, and 40 percent for Bush; and 56 percent of Asians voted for Kerry, and 44 percent for Bush. Kerry also received the vote of 54 percent of those who chose "other" when listing their race, while Bush received 40 percent.

more...

[Realityhack]

1. Looks like he has read up on...

how to lie with statistics. Its a favorate right wing game. Also engaged in by the left but typicaly less IMO.

[Cocoa]

3. Brooks is the master at that

it's his profession.

[Democrats_win]

2. Cons bring up the race-card but Insist we live in a color-blind society nt