If You Want Accuracy, Listen To Liberals
A class at Hamilton College took on a project where they listened to Sunday shows and rated the accuracy of pundit predictions from those shows. They found most were no better than flipping a coin, but some were better. Paul Krugman was the most accurate while Cal Thomas was the least. The whole top five was made of liberals.
Even when the students eliminated political predictions and looked only at predictions for the economy and social issues, they found that liberals still do better than conservatives at prediction. After Krugman, the most accurate pundits were Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – all Democrats and/or liberals. Also landing in the “Good” category, however, were conservative columnists Kathleen Parker and David Brooks, along with Bush Administration Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Left-leaning columnist Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post rounded out the “good” list.
Those scoring lowest – “The Ugly” – with negative tallies were conservative columnist Cal Thomas; U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC); U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI); U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, a McCain supporter and Democrat-turned-Independent from Connecticut; Sam Donaldson of ABC; and conservative columnist George Will.
Landing between the two extremes – “The Bad” – were Howard Wolfson, communications director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign; former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a hopeful in the 2008 Republican primary; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004; liberal columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times; Andrea Mitchell of NBC; New York Times columnist Tom Friedman; the late David Broder, former columnist for The Washington Post; Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page; New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof; and Hillary Clinton.
I guess this makes sense, since I’m still waiting for Obama to take all the guns and send conservatives to FEMA camps. Is anyone surprised to see 4 of the bottom 5 are conservatives? This validates my thought that conservatives like to hear things that validate their beliefs even if they aren’t right.
Tags: Cal Thomas, Paul Krugman, Pundits
See this is why I never watch the Sunday morning BS shows. Plus, I got tired of having to retrieve my slippers after throwing them at the screen.
Oh, and, while we’re sitting here feeling all smug about being *smarter* lets remember that it doesn’t take high intelligence to win elections. The R’s have demonstrated this forever. You can be dumb as a rock and still win if you are willing to lie and lie and lie. Sometimes being smart is a handicap.
I never thought of Maureen Dowd as a predictor of anything, but then, I stopped reading her regularly a long time ago. Besides not needing to just make stuff up to justify their positions, I wonder if this isn’t a result of the liberal commentators living in a different ecology isn’t the reason. Liberals wrong in public actually gets to be news, where conservatives wrong in public is apparently the way the world works.
I find it amazing how much of the DC bubble holds Krugman in contempt. I don’t think he plays their game, but that’s probably why he’s most accurate.
What the sam hill is “economy and social” issues that isn’t political?
I hate social ‘sciences’. @@
Accuracy from the Libs, huh? The White House is Liberal. First they said Osama was armed and fought back. Now they’re saying he was unarmed. Not only are they inaccurate, they’re also flip-flops.
J’acuse Haliton College!! Since 2006 I have predicted that Republicans were going to act like a bunch of douche-nozzles 314 times. 314 times I have been correct.
How come I’m not on the list?
delbert fails to note that the White House is busily correcting its own record, fixing what ever mistakes they made in public.
How long did it take BushCo (and you for that matter) to be able to admit that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11?
How long did it take the administration to correct the record on Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman? Obviously, Obama should have had the team go in guns-a-blazin’ at the earliest possible second. It’s just crazy talk to think about things.
presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq–the prime justification of our invasion?
Oops! Sorry about that.
Please go about your business.
No matter what lame rationalization you vomit, you’ll still be a home-team cheering loser, delbert.
But to the post, I chaulk up this finding under “Duh”.
Here is a shocker and from Fox Noise check out this video
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/04/shep-smith-bin-laden-illegal_n_857356.html
This needs more play to shut up the wing nuts
Here is even a better link of where Fox Noise really stands
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201105020016
Only two on the list were conservative. Not 4 of 5
Those scoring lowest – “The Ugly” – with negative tallies were conservative columnist Cal Thomas; U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC); U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI); U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, a McCain supporter and Democrat-turned-Independent from Connecticut; Sam Donaldson of ABC; and conservative columnist George Will
I can hardly wait to see the 2009 to 2010 period.