I really think you are misunderstanding that sentence. The author didn't mean what you think it means. His point was that it's not very difficult to come up wit

I really think you are misunderstanding that sentence. The author didn't mean what you think it means. His point was that it's not very difficult to come up with just the right data and statistics to support whatever idea you're trying to promote. Data is basically worthless if you can't trust the methodology behind it.