Nate Silver Cursed Out By Right-Winger

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight interviewed John Ziegler, who commissioned a Zogby poll purporting to prove that Obama voters are uninformed. Things started off testy:

NS: What was the right answer to that [Palin] question?

JZ: The technically accurate question [sic] is that none of the four people said that, but we counted it as correct if they said Sarah Palin.

NS: Why would you commission a survey question with no correct response?

JZ: The purpose of the question, you pinhead, was we wanted to determine the Tina Fey Effect.

And it only got worse, ending with Ziegler telling Silver to "go fuck yourself."

NS: Would you consider yourself well-informed?

JZ: I'd consider myself extremely well-informed.

NS: Who are the two senators from South Dakota

JZ: Thune and, uh, Johnson.

Story continues below

NS: Very good. South Carolina?

JZ: Go fuck yourself. I'm done with this interview if you're going to ask me stupid questions like that. Obviously I know who Lindsay Graham is.

NS: Well, since you're running a website calling people misinformed, I'd like to see if -- there are certain things you've said that I would consider misinformed.

JZ: Misinformed? You're a piece of work! You are never going to have the guts to post a representative transcript on your website! I thought you actually ran a legitimate website!

NS: Thank you, have a good day.

JZ: Go fuck yourself.

Comments

[AudsMom]

Remember it is best if you don't step on 'Nerds' in life...they are the ones who secretly run the country. I adore you Nate! You rock!

[max]

Nate is cool

[dmspeech]

His website kept me sane during the last month of the election. Every day I checked the polls and read his comments and it kept my confidence about the election going.
He deserves all the positive attention he's getting. He predicted the percentage almost perfectly. Ziegler is a fool and a Nate toasted him.

[petekwando]

So, this is what we can look forward to for the next decade or so - right wingers resorting to profanity when their feeble arguments are thoroughly rebutted.

Probably a good thing. Let's them blow off steam, as opposed to building up in silence.

[ecksman]

go job nate!

[TrippyWeekender]

The post says Nate interviewed John but it didn't say where.

Two questions:

1. Was it at a Wendy's?
2. Was a Frosty involved?

[PAposter]

Nate Silver is the man!

[seenitall]

I luv Nate.

[Tommygun2146]

The pub hostility toward the educated and admiration of willful ignorance continues. Ziegler could see that his position could not hold up to Nate Silver's calm, rational scrutiny, so like the hoards of lemmings who shouted "kill him" and "off with his head" at the McSame/Palin rallies, he predictably resorted to paranoid rantings and irrational fits of anger in a desperate attempt to distract Mr. Silver, and perhaps even himself, from the inevitable conclusion that Mr. Ziegler and the poll he commissioned lack credibility.

[DontJustFollow]

I, too, hate to let facts get in the way of a good story but the Palin rally myth was debunked. Police on site never heard it, secret service members never heard it, democrat plants never heard it, the only one that heard anything was a admittedly biased left wing reporter. if memory serves, he was also taken downtown for questioning.

It is no secret that many Obama supporters are highly intellegent. But it is also very obvious that a majority of the voters had no idea why they were supporting Obama other than he was not "McSame".

Which is also interesting because we are all still waiting, holding our collective breathes for Obama/Change to appoint someone not previously employed by the Clintons...

[Mchris1947]

Obama is a Democrat, so it stands to reason he will appoint mostly (but not only) Democrats to his cabinet. If you have any Washington experience from the last 20 years and you're a Dem, you've probably worked with or for the Clintons at some point. If he appointed all "newbies" to his cabinet, instead you would be complaining that the Country is now in the hands of rookies with no experience during these troubling times. You can't have it both ways.

Also, he's only made 2 1/2 appointments (Clinton is not a done deal yet) out of 200+ appointments that will need to be made. We've got along way to go, but i'm certan you'll find plenty to complain about either way.

[lisakaz2]

I guess you are incapable of listening to the tapes. I heard the slurs and threats loud and clear.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

"It is no secret that many Obama supporters are highly intellegent [sic]. But it is also very obvious that a majority of the voters had no idea why they were supporting Obama other than he was not `McSame.'"

In other words, you seem to be saying, at least 51 percent of the people who voted for Obama were drooling ignoramuses, whose sheer numbers swamped the thoughtful, discerning people who voted for McCain.

*buzzer* I'm sorry, that is NOT correct. But thanks for playing!

(But speaking of "drooling ignoramuses," go to YouTube and watch a few Sarah Palin rallies from the last week of the campaign.)

"Don't blindly follow" is good advice. But "don't blindly follow stupid people who are spouting stupid ideas" (i.e., Republicans) is better advice.

[ConfuciusSay-]

Very accurate analysis.

One trivial thing-
Horde: disorganized group eg- horde of Mongols
Hoard: stockpile eg- hoard of coins

[killmenow]

I saw John Ziegler on Hannity & Combes talking about his YouTube video, which is posted on his one-page website, howobamagotelected.com. I was so stunned by the absolute ridiculous stupidity of his video and his entire argument that I Googled his name. What a piece of work! You have all got to read his five-page tirade against KFI in Los Angeles after he got fired. That's on his other website, all about him.

Those right-wingers really fit a psychological profile. They often feel slighted, victimized, wronged and are terribly angry, and that's all based on astounding ignorance. John Ziegler fits that profile. I think that people like him absolutely cannot understand how a young black man could be elected President. Of course, he never asks McCain supporters throughout Appalachia and the Deep South why they voted the way that they did.

[TinaGirlla]

You are right on the money about the psychological profile. There was a recent study suggesting that people who self-identify as conservative have a faster startle reflex - they scare more easily than people who ID as liberal. The researchers were careful not to make one "better than the other" - there are times situations need careful evaluation, and there are other times when responding quickly to danger saves an organism's life. People on either extreme are at a disadvantage - either by having this irrational limbic response to a non threat (a la stereotype of the right wing nut job), or by failing to respond with enough force to a truly dangerous situation (a la stereotype of the left wing nut job).
I could not begin to know whether folks like this are just out to make a buck anyway they can, or if they actually can't discern how irrational they are. Ziegler's lack of insight is so staggering, I might place a bet that he really takes himself seriously. Wow.

[DontJustFollow]

NO FAIR. The test was given the day after the welfare checks came out and it is hard to react quickly with the strength of that new medicinal pot. you want to see jumpy, hang out in front of the welfare office the day before the checks come out - there is some jumpy Obama supporters - - -

[killmenow]

I have my own theory: I don't think it's simply a fear reflex. I think it's a desperate need to always feel that you belong to the group, and the group of choice is always the one that proclaims itself to be the more masculine, strong and righteous one. I suspect that the fear comes in not so much as a reaction to perceived danger, but to the constant, relentless fear and expectation that you can and will be rejected by the group, even your own family, if you do not stick to the accepted narrative. I suspect that's why those kinds of people keep calling into radio shows and repeating exactly what they've heard from Republican talking points spouted by right-wing pundits as if it is absolute fact- no questions asked. To differ from the accepted or authoritative narrative will result in immediate, unquestionable banishment. That's where the fear actually lies.

[SpaghettyIrish]

You should read "Conservatives Without Conscience" by John Dean, if you haven't already. Actually, everyone should read it, particularly those interested/ involved with the media. Gets right to the meat of this issue. WATCH OUT FOR THE DOUBLE HIGHS!

[DrDemon]

No Link?

[badtimes]

I second that recommendation. Excellent book.

[killmenow]

I just finished reading that book this morning!

[TrialDate]

Go get'em Nate.

[plages]

Zieg heiler!

[Jeanne-CT]

Nate--you're the bright shining star of polling-! Ziegler is just jealous because he can't come anywhere near your brillance. Love your glasses-!

[Wigelah]

Not very grown up behavior from Mr. Ziegler. I think it was a legitimate question to ask why a survey would have a question that really doesn't have a right answer. Tina Fey effect? Pul eeze. And, it's not surprising that whatever poll this guy commissioned, if they used a question that didn't have a right answer, that it wasn't as accurate as Captain 538's results were.

[QuietAmerican]

The very premise of the poll was ludicrous. Obama voters uninformed? He's got to be kidding. We are nothing if not Googlers.

And what's with his hostility?

[Big0725]

Maybe that Nate Silver makes everyone else look silly with fivethirtyeight.com's research. I believe that Mr. Silver just about called every aspect of the election.

[OneAngryDwarf]

He missed Indiana. Other than that he was more accurate than anyone else. His projection was within .1 of the actual and he called every single state (except the afformentioned Indiana).

Calculating statistical analysis vs desperately searching for information to support a pointless argument, or as it should be known from here on out Silver vs Zeigler.

[billbb]

Darned close. He had the overall correct margin, and called every state worth calling. Nate's handicapping of the polls was so good, I wish I could get him to go with me to the track.

[billbb]

He lost, and he got outted as an intellectual fraud.

And now, sore loser.

Kinda makes you wonder if those weren't the polls McCain & Palin were following that had them wasting time in Pennsylvania and Iowa just before the election, both states where - it turns out - they had no chance at all.