Obama Crossroads smear ad

I've been watching this TV ad the last few days and something was gnawing at me...about the math being used. How do you come up with a 25 percent increase in the unemployment rate when you are comparing 7.3 percent in Jan. '09 to 9.1 percent now? I am no math wizard (in fact I had to take an algebra class over again in summer school) but aren't we talking about a 1.8 percent increase in the jobless rate? What am I missing? 9.1 - the number, not the percentage - is 25 percent larger than 7.3 the number....when we are talking about numbers between 1 and 10. Right?

Some serious Rovian math at play in this ad, n'est pas? :shrug:

it doesn't make sense but you know what? Lots of a-holes will eat it right up like it was gospel buffet.

ClusterFreak, I fear it's going to be a long, long election season.

Crossroads is Rove's baby is it not??? Truth??

it becomes the truth.

Nasty stuff and I'm sick of it already.

ETA: Got schooled in DU LOL not a lie but darned sure used in a way to give the greatest shock value I reckon.

A 25% increase is a great soundbite and easier to remember. Basic political ad logistics.

9.1 is 25% higher than 7.3 (9.1 divided by 7.3 shows how much larger the 9.1 is). The answer is 1.247, rounded to 1.25, or... 25% higher than your starting point of 7.3. Hope that is clear.

...but untrue in terms of what the ad claims. Factually, the unemployment rate has gone up 1.8 percent since Jan. 2009. That is undisputable. Unless you're Karl Rove. Then you can claim that because the rate is now 9.1 percent, and 9.1 percent is 25 percent higher than 7.3 percent...then if my sister had a d*** she'd be my brother.:P But as someone else upthread has already suggested...the target group of this ad will eat it up, lick the bowl clean and ask for more.

Thus there has been a 25% increase.

2 DUers who know what to do.