The New York Times quotes Sen. Reid as saying, "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating." The Mystery Pollster points out that "Perhaps that was a bit of rhetorical excess, because while Cheney's ratings are low [29-34%], they are a long way from 9%."

Well, yes, but it's a form of "rhetorical excess" that probably fits in the category of "joke." My sense is that 9% for a sitting President or Vice-President is so ridiculously and obviously low (at least setting aside extraordinary scandals not present here) that Reid is using it as a jocular way of saying "very low" -- rather like someone might say "Jane Schmane is a thousand years old" to mean "Jane Schmane is very old." True, "thousand years old" is physically impossible while "9 percent approval rating" is just extremely improbable, but the improbability is so extreme that they seem to be in the same ballpark.

I realize that some laypeople might miss the jocular hyperbole, but I suspect it will be very few. And Reid was apparently speaking to reporters, and in that context even someone who realizes he may be quoted might be pitching his off-the-cuff comments at the sophistication level of the audience that is present.