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Why Nobody Reads the Washington Times


NewsPoliticsThere’s a good reason nobody reads the Washington Times. Take the first line of this editorial from Sunday.

More than 60 million people in America voted in the “American Idol” final — more than in any U.S. presidential election.

Ok, where do we begin? Clearly Daniel Gallington had an agenda and he was not going to let facts get in the way. In 2004, roughly 121 million votes were cast for President with a little over 62 million for Bush and a bit over 59 million for Kerry. So whether he meant that 60 million votes had never been cast, or 60 million had never been cast for a single candidate, he’s wrong on both counts.

Second, I have trouble buying the vote count at 60 million people voting. Only 36 million people watched, and I imagine a fair number of those abstained from voting (let’s say 90% voted). That leaves a gap of about 28 million voters. I find it hard to believe that 31 million people were invested enough in the outcome to vote, but not to actually watch the show.

American Idol allows you to vote multiple times. The host even encourages you to vote as often as you’d like. They make no claims regarding the integrity of their ballot. In fact, a cottage industry is developing around their ridiculous voting schema to provide voting “software” that will cast “hundreds of votes per hour” for your favorite contestant.

So it’slikely that was 60,000,000 votes, not 60 million voters.

To be honest, I didn’t read Gallington’s op-ed any further. It may have made a brilliant point somewhere, but after the stupidity and falsity of his opening line, I stopped reading.

To the editors of the Washington Times I would say this. You are doing your few readers, and indeed the conservative movement no favors by publishing articles that repel readers after only 20 words.



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Written by Michael Turk