05
Jan 10The 80% minority.
Catching up on reading after my feed-free holiday in the wide-open Midwest, this misguided quote by Mary Matalin grabbed my eye:
That leaves left in the Democratic Party the urban centers, this is tyranny of the minority. Two-thirds of the country don’t want [health care reform].
Never mind her interpretation of what 66% of the nation does or doesn’t want:
- As of 2007, 79.1% of the USA’s population lived in cities (UN World Urbanization Prospects, 2007 revision, p. 80, PDF)
- “The rural population is declining, with China, Indonesia, Japan, the Russian Federation and the United States having the fastest rates of decline.”
I almost wonder if she’s trying to pull a Verizon Wireless here–rural land probably covers at least two-thirds of the country, although 80% of the actual people don’t live there and don’t care much about health/3G coverage in Montana. The metaphor breaks down from there, and I might be giving her too much credit. Anyway, I think my general point stands: “flyover country” is flown over for a reason, and the trends don’t look likely to reverse themselves anytime soon.
Tagged: nerdiness, news, politics
January 5th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
This, i’m sure, is exactly what she’s doing. It’s plausible deniability. Saying 2/3 of the U.S. opposes the bill is not technically untrue, since she doesn’t specify whether she’s referring to population, area, or political representation–it’s just horribly misleading, and if called out she could claim the inoffensive context. Not that the MSM would have the balls to do that, anyway. She ultimately accomplishes her goal of feeding the partisan fires of red America.
Of course, the root problem is our continuing idolization of rural America. You want tyranny of the minority? Try federal farm subsidies.
I think “pull a Verizon” is simply fantastic.