Rule of thumb

When Ross Kaminsky makes a declarative statement such as, "Poll results prove me right about Obama in Germany," assume that nothing has actually been proven.

Ross cherry-picks a few numbers to defend his assertion that Obama's trip to Germany would be a negative for him. For example Ross points to the most recent Gallup Poll and states,

The newest USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain up by 4 points among likely voters whereas he was 6 points behind Obama a month ago.

Except that that same poll has Obama up amongst registered voters. So the poll that Ross claims "prove[s] him right" actually contradicts Ross. No biggie to Ross though, he'll just hope that no one bothers to check his sources - some of you may have noticed that this is something of a pattern for him.

For more on the static and inconsistencies in the polls right now go check out Steve Benen.