What's the meaning

[Dany]

Dear all,

What's the meaning of the headlined part of the following text?

Rarely has a report with so many charts and equations in it caused such a stir. Sir Nicholas Stern's review of the economics of climate change, published on October 30th, was all over the local media and much of the foreing press too. But the figures splattered over the report's 600 pages were something of a red herring, for the report was more about politics than about economics - specifically, the politcs of getting America involved in the global effort to mitigate climate change.

[Tdol]

If the figures are splattered about, it suggests that they are distributed rather randomly, without much assessment of their worth. If they are a red herring, they are a distraction that takes us away from the real issues that have to be thought about: http://www.usingenglish.com/referenc...d-herring.html

[Dany]

Thank you very much, Tdol

[Tdol]

Always welcome, Dany.