My email server was having a cow for a few weeks and none of my outgoing emails was delivered. D’oh! But they were all sent this morning. So if you get a crazy email from yours truly out of the blue, it’s delayed. Sorry. Better late than never.
MATH AND ME: Blooper on the FMA post. A reader sets me, er, straight:
I enjoy reading your column (even though I usually disagree with you), but I think you may have gotten this line wrong:
“And Republicans oppose the FMA by a 58 to 38 percent margin.”
Reading the original article, it looks to me like the FMA is opposed 58 to 38 percent among Republicans who think same-sex marriage should be illegal. If you read the paragraphs above the second table (from which you pulled the 58/38 number), it says things like “only 23 percent of older Americans who oppose such marriages say it’s worth amending the Constitution to do so” (emphasis added). Twenty-three percent in favor of FMA among older Americans matches up numerically with the second table. Also, the second table is titled “The Constitution: Amended if Same Sex Marriage Banned” (emphasis added), which also suggests the second table only represents anti-gay marriage folks.The good thing about this misreading is that it strengthens your point. Since 73 percent of Republicans oppose gay marriage and 38 percent of them are in favor of FMA, this means that only 27 percent of all Republicans support FMA. It’s still higher than the 20 percent support from the general populace, but even I, a diehard Democrat, will admit that it’s impressive that so many Republicans are against FMA. What’s especially impressive is how many are willing to put the integrity of our Constitution over their own objections to gay marriage.
Sorry for the miscalculation.
The Dish 