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.

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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

[VerdureVision]

"Go f*** yourself."

Well THAT'S a winning response when someone calls BS on you.

Stay classy, Ziegler.

[Celldumceen]

We all should expect more stuff just like this from right-wingers like John Ziegler! Their entire belief system is in taters now because of beating they just took at the polls! Republicans are running scared because their party is staring electoral irrelivance straight in the face. If Dem are able to keep the percentages that we just saw this past election static the Republicans will have an uphill battle to win national elections from here on out. They know that so they are lashing out! They are scared and they should be given the demogaphics shifts that going to be happening the next few decades! Obama and his people have built a new model of how to run an election and you can bet every Dems from here on will copy it. This time out the Dem (Obama) had the money he needed to refute Republican dogma effectively, lies only work when there isn't anyone standing up/there to tell the public what the actual truth is!

[Hegemoneyhoney]

Actually, the spelling is "tatters", not "taters" but I like your version a lot more and from here on out, I'm going to use yours! It's fun and funny and works almost as well. Our economy is in taters!
Thank you for this - and no, I'm not being sarcastic or facetious. Really, truly, I love it.

And beyond that, I thought the content of your post was good, too.

Bush-Cheney have us in taters, but Obama-Biden and team will have us in roses.

I like taters but I don't want to be IN taters.

[Celldumceen]

Way to avoid the point. I suppose you've never heard of a type-o! That is so Republican of you!

[ElectroJones]

Good Job, Nate! Nicely done.

[Val49]

The right wing people, are they really religious I know GOD would have to be busy making DETOUR signs, I've never seen so many hypocrits in my life.

[maikonen]

Val49, do you really think "the right wing people" are all religious? Come on; it's just that they USE the religious folks to beef up their numbers that's all. At their very base is the rural poor uneducated white, who feels he would lose everything if all humans possessed similar rights, especially those rights and privileges preserved for them by virtue of their race.

[libbygirl]

Nate should have asked him what he reads.

[kalpal]

That presupposes that he knows how to read. That would be an unfair question.

[Chaucea]

Tee hee. Go Nate! :-D

[Liberalrep1980]

Now that guy was classy.

[DebofMD]

Go Nate!! You rock, man. Folks like Ziegler must resort to insults when they don't have anything worthwhile to say.

[CatfishAndGrits]

The Zogby's are just mad that one man has been closer to actual vote number than any of these people with so call years of experience.

Keep it up Nate. Your getting under there skin

Zogby polls are horrible wrong. They had McCain ahead by 3 or 4 points in the later days of the election. Hellooooooooo.

[GlenRast]

A case of an irrelevant person getting angry at a relevant person for asking relevant questions about an irrelevant poll.

Or substitute irrelevant with stupid and relevant with smart.

[CTDem]

Perfect. I need to remember that one for all future Rethug attacks.

[realitychecks]

Exposing the foolish in fools,keep up the good work!

[JeanV]

Zeigler?? Who the heck is he? He seems to have a very narrow vocabulary.

[humbug]

What else can poorly informed, highly defensive and rigid people like Ziegler do when they are exposed? They attack! Some readers will remember what the bullies in elementary and high school did when they could not tolerate civil argument. The bullies challanged the party who exposed them as ignorant to a fight. As a grown person, mistaken for an adult, the Ziglers of the world have no choice but to mount feeble verbal attacks as their fragile egos have been hurt and they have suffered an insult to their narcissism. Poor babies.

humbug

[Mattyhorn]

This interview is worth reading in its entirety, as is the enlightening piece from the Atlantic in 2005. It shows just how much of a tool this Ziegler really is. I mean, when you can't even make it on right-wing talk radio (after several failed radio jobs), you're a special kind of loser.

And taking out his obvious insecurities and inadequacies on Nate, who was just trying to set the record straight on this dubious 'poll', is just wrong. If you want a good laugh, check out Ziegler's equally sophomoric defense. Better yet, don't waste your time on a doorknob like this.

[kappa08]

Nate let me know if you need someone to deliver the "hard stuff" to this guy....I know it's not your thing. That's ok.

[shengirl]

Way to go, Nate! Keep up the awesome work [on so many fronts]!