"Political Wire"--with blinders on

"Political Wire," a blog focusing on politics, did an absolutely epic job of playing up the one favorable-to-Democrats aspect of Eric Ostermeier's recently published analysis of PolitiFact.  The headline:

Many More False Statements by Republicans

The headline hotlinks to the results of Ostermeier's study, published at the Smart Politics blog (University of Minnesota).

For comparison, here's the headline accompanying Ostermeier's post:

Selection Bias? PolitiFact Rates Republican Statements as False at 3 Times the Rate of Democrats

Position a blinder just right and the first two words may be eliminated from one's field of vision.  Or, one could view the whole of Ostermeier's title and elect to only pay attention to part of it (employing selection bias, in other words).

Political Wire's description of the story likewise preserves the blind spot:

A Smart Politics analysis of more than 500 PolitiFact stories over the last year finds that statements made by Republican politicians have been rated as false at more than three times the rate of those made by their Democratic counterparts.

Leading the way for the GOP with the largest number of false statements: Sarah Palin with eight, Michele Bachmann with seven, and John Boehner, Mike Pence, and the National Republican Congressional Committee with four each.

So, if anyone wonders how to use selection bias, Taegan Goddard's Political Wire provides a marvelous example.  Be sure to check out the sheeplish commentary thread accompanying Goddard's summary of Ostermeier's study.

Grats to Kylar Vonzain and "Golbez" for being the two who understood what Ostermeier was saying (honorable mention to Peter Olson).