I guess the point is that, when the statistics support their political bent, they decry people questioning the validity of them, and consider not blindly accept

I guess the point is that, when the statistics support their political bent, they decry people questioning the validity of them, and consider not blindly accepting them as being proof of the idiocy of the reader. But, give them statistics that go against their pre-ordained narrative, and suddenly it is the reader who doesn't immediately refute the statistics who is the uneducated rube.