How government statistics work. From Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British politician and statesman, as cited in The Life of Politics. Henry Fairlie (1968):
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is that, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.
#hussein seems to have perfected this process.
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments. It is also sometimes colloquially used to doubt statistics used to prove an opponent’s point.
The term was popularised in United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” However, the phrase is not found in any of Disraeli’s works and the earliest known appearances were years after his death. Several other people have been listed as originators of the quote, and it is often erroneously attributed to Twain himself.[1]”
Thanks for the post. Now I know what “statistics” the L,DL,aS
quote refers to in most instances.