Fox News Flubs Stats To Make Obama’s Record Look Horrible

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Fox News compares apples to rotten oranges to make it appear as if Barack Obama has presided over a near-doubling of the ranks of the unemployed.

Media Matters first spotted the inconsistency. Simply put, Fox & Friends juxtaposed unemployment in January 2009 — calculated to measure the number of unemployed people actively looking for work — with a different measure of unemployment in August 2012, calculated to include disaffected and marginally attached workers.

A direct comparison is less misleading, but also less eye-popping.

The standard measure of unemployment (U-3) when Obama took office was 7.9 percent. Now it’s 8.1 percent.

The broader measure of unemployment (U-6) when Obama took office was 14.2 percent. Now it’s 14.7 percent.

Here’s how Fox mixed and matched the figures:

Using January 2009 figures of any kind papers over the fact that the economy (and thus the unemployment rate) was in free fall when Obama took office. An email to a Fox spokesperson was not immediately returned.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/fox-news-unemployment-obama-fail.php?ref=fpa

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

GOP TV. You know what they said - on record. They will not let their campaign be dictated by fact checkers.

[웃 910]

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Interesting when 8.6% is optically the same as 9.0% and higher than 8.8%. Talk about mindfcukery.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Fox News Flubs Stats To Make Obama’s Record Look Horrible

He doesn't need Fox's help to do that!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He doesn't need Fox's help to do that!

That's true. There are enough RWNJs on VJ that love to compare apples and oranges.