And A Conspiracy In Every Pot

The wingnut blogosphere has been flogging their latest conspiracy theory this week. This time the meme is the Chrysler dealerships that were chosen to be closed in their Bankruptcy deal were "targeted" because the owners were big Republican donors. Seriously. Now you would think it would be common sense that most auto dealers would donate and vote Republican if for no other reason than to oppose any green energy legislation that would, in their mind, be bad for business. But common sense is not common with wingnuts. Thankfully Nate Silver crunches the numbers to kill this ignorance dead in its tracks.

Overall, 88 percent of the contributions from car dealers went to Republican candidates and just 12 percent to Democratic candidates. By comparison, the list of dealers on Doug Ross's list (which I haven't vetted, but I assume is fine) gave 92 percent of their money to Republicans -- not really a significant difference.

There's no conspiracy here, folks -- just some bad math.

It shouldn't be any surprise, by the way, that car dealers tend to vote -- and donate -- Republican. They are usually male, they are usually older (you don't own an auto dealership in your 20s), and they have obvious reasons to be pro-business, pro-tax cut, anti-green energy and anti-labor. Car dealerships need quite a bit of space and will tend to be located in suburban or rural areas. I can't think of too many other occupations that are more natural fits for the Republican Party. Unfortunately, while we are still a nation of drivers, we are not a nation of dealers.

Now of course this won't deter the wingnuts from continuing to repeat this lie. They are after all perpetual victims don't you know. But at least now there is a real statistical analysis to throw back at them when they come with the bullshit.