The Washington Post graded the Romney campaign’s 92.3% figure as “true but false.” That classification drew mockery by Romney supporters, but I think it’s just right, and has something deep to say about the use of numbers in politics. There’s no question about the accuracy of the number. You divide the net jobs lost by women by the net jobs lost, and you get 92.3%. But that makes the claim “true” only in a very weak sense. It’s as if the Obama campaign had released a statement saying, “Mitt Romney has never denied allegations that for years he’s operated a bicontinental cocaine-trafficking
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