I think affirmative action does mean what he thinks it means. Data is hard to come by, but here are a two data points:

The University of Michigan would give you +1.0 on GPA if you were black (e.g., 2.8 GPA -> 3.8 GPA):

http://www.cir-usa.org/Images/mich_index.gif

Medical schools have similar practices - the average black student accepted into medical school has GPA/MCAT a full standard deviation below the average white student. (I.e., 50% of black medical students are in the bottom 20% of medical students.)

http://web.archive.org/web/20080801022539/http://www.aamc.or...