Irony alert at the Minnesota Network for Progressive Action

Pity Dave Mindeman.

Mindeman writes for the Minnesota Network for Progressive Action blog, and Eric Ostermeier's study raising the possibility of selection bias at PolitiFact apparently hit Mindeman pretty hard.

See what Mindeman wrote on Feb. 12 as an item under the title "If Something's Wrong - It's the Liberals' Fault":

(L)ocally, Eric Ostermeier (Smart Politics Blog) just can't allow for the possibility that Republicans are often caught being a little light on facts by watchdog media. So therefore, it has to be the liberal bias of the watchdog groups themselves.

Mindeman claims that Ostermeier "can't allow for the possibility that Republicans are often caught being a little light on facts."  Is it true?

Ostermeier:

One could theoretically argue that one political party has made a disproportionately higher number of false claims than the other, and that this is subsequently reflected in the distribution of ratings on the PolitiFact site.

Contrary to what Mindeman claims, Ostermeier does allow for the possibility that Republicans often caught being a little light on the facts.  Which, of course, makes Mindeman's statement a little light on the facts.

Ostermeier even replied to an earlier post from Mindeman and explained it personally:

Eric Ostermeier @ www.smartpoliticsblog.org

02/11/11 16:29

> Could it be possible that the Republicans
> make more outrageous and indefensible
> assertions?

FYI: this very possibility was in fact addressed in my report:

"One could theoretically argue that one political party has made a disproportionately higher number of false claims than the other, and that this is subsequently reflected in the distribution of ratings on the PolitiFact site."

Mindeman apparently can't accept the possibility that Republicans don't really dominate prevarication the way PolitiFact presents it.

Pity Dave Mindeman.