Washington Post Ignores Own Poll To Uncritically Report GOP's "Glee"
April 2, 2007 -- 12:07 PM EST // // Post a Comment
So here's another quick point about the Washington Post article I posted on below claiming that GOP operatives are "gleeful" about the Dem Congressional majority's aggressive confrontation of the White House on Iraq and other national security issues:
In order to report this without the skepticism it deserved, the paper's editors actually had to ignore the paper's own poll data on the subject. And that's exactly what they did -- even though the poll data was directly relevant to the topic at hand. Amazing.
From WaPo's Feb. 27 poll:
Who do you trust to do a better job handling (ITEM), (Bush) or (the Democrats in Congress)?a. The situation in Iraq: Bush 34%, Dems 54%
b. The U.S. campaign against terrorism: Bush 39%, Dems 52%
And:
Would you support or oppose Congress trying to block Bush's plan by (ITEM)?a. creating new rules on troop training and rest time that would limit the number of troops available for duty in Iraq: Support 58%, Oppose 39%
b. restricting funding for the war: Support 46%, Oppose 51%.
Remember that the Dems are doing (a) and are not doing (b). Finally, there's also this:
Some people say the Bush administration should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further casualties. Others say knowing when the U.S. would pull out would only encourage the anti-government insurgents. Do you yourself think the United States should or should not set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq?Should set a deadline: 53%
Should not set a deadline 46%
The Congressional Dems' approach, of course, sets a deadline.
So let's review. The Washington Post wants you to believe that Republicans are "gleeful" about the fact that the Dem Congressional majority is moving aggressively to confront the White House on Iraq terrorism issues -- even though the paper's own poll found that the public trusts the Dems on terror over Bush by a 13 point margin. The WaPo also wants you to believe that a Presidential veto of Congress' war measures could be a political winner for the GOP -- even though the paper's own poll found that sizable majorities want those measures to be implemented.
This is a sincere question. If you were an editor at The Washington Post and you were publishing a long front-page piece about this, wouldn't you think to consult -- and include in the piece -- the paper's own poll data about the topic at hand? Stranger and stranger.
Glenn Greenwald comments: "In the Beltway, it really is as if the November, 2006 election never happened, or at best, it is treated as some sort of Lottery-like event, an episode that was completely random and has no meaning whatsoever." Yep -- 2006 simply never happened. That's all there is to it.
Update: Matt Stoller has more, earning the author of the Post piece Atrios' coveted daily award.
Update II: Digby does a hilarious dissection of some of the assumptions underlying the WaPo piece.
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