Wrangling Unicorns

This election spawned more than its share of myths and mythical creatures. Here’s an attempt to wrangle seven of them for branding. Note the overall theme, which is that conventional wisdom turned out to be as reliable as early exit polls.

Have you heard the one about:

1. How an accurate vote count would benefit John Kerry? (actually, it confirms what we already know)
2. How only stupid and uneducated people vote for Bush? (a “study” saying that was satirical, and Bush gained votes among people with postgraduate degrees relative to his performance in 2000)
3. How red state people have been evil since at least the Civil War? (novelist Jane Smiley makes that charge but actually knows nothing of history, and very little of human nature)
4. How Iraq is bad and getting worse? (depends very much on where you’re looking)
5. How Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with terrorism? (guess again)
6. How hate is a great political motivator used by Republicans? (the dean of political reporters and a libertarian pundit both say the GOP won on love)
7. How conservatives should forget about what Arlen Specter did to Robert Bork 15 years ago? (Specter has never been a team player)

Updated November 11 and 12 with additional links.