[PAA-Discuss] Poll Shows Many Americans are Simply Dumber Than Bush

[Charlie Lindahl]

All;

Aha! I knew there was an explanation ... 

C

>Subject: Poll Shows Many Americans are Simply Dumber Than Bush
>Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 20:26:20 -0500
>
>http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11696.htm
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>NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN
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>Polls Show Many Americans are Simply Dumber Than Bush
>
>By Paul Craig Roberts
>
>01/29/06 "ICH" -- -- Two recent polls, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg 
>poll and a New York Times/CBS News poll, indicate why Bush is 
>getting away with impeachable offenses. Half of the US population is 
>incapable of acquiring, processing and understanding information.
>
>Much of the problem is the media itself, which serves as a 
>disinformation agency for the Bush administration. Fox "News" and 
>right-wing talk radio are the worst, but with propagandistic outlets 
>setting the standard for truth and patriotism, all of the media is 
>affected to some degree.
>
>Despite the media's failure, about half the population has managed 
>to discern that the US invasion of Iraq has not made them safer and 
>that the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties is not a 
>necessary component of the war on terror. The problem, thus, lies 
>with the absence of due diligence on the part of the other half of 
>the population.
>
>Consider the New York Times/CBS poll. Sixty-four percent of the 
>respondents have concerns about losing civil liberties as a result 
>of anti-terrorism measures put in place by President Bush. Yet, 53
>percent approve of spying without obtaining court warrants "in order 
>to reduce the threat of terrorism."
>
>Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any 
>more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a 
>warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is 
>disobeying, requires the executive to obtain from a secret panel of 
>federal judges a warrant for spying on Americans. The purpose of the 
>law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political 
>reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) 
>and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in 
>secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing 
>the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant.
>
>Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media has played along 
>with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a 
>trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. 
>This formulation is false and nonsensical. Why does the media enable 
>the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal 
>behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?
>
>The LA Times/Bloomberg poll has equally striking anomalies. Only 43 
>percent said they approved of Bush's performance as president. But a 
>majority believe Bush's policies have made the US more secure.
>
>It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a 
>result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly 
>threatening two more with military attack. The invasions and threats 
>have caused a dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the US.
>Prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a 
>favorable opinion of America. Now only about 5 percent do.
>
>A number of US commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have 
>told the American public that the three year-old war in Iraq is 
>serving both to recruit and to train terrorists for al Qaeda, which 
>has grown many times its former size. Moreover, the US military has 
>concluded that al Qaeda has succeeded in having its members elected 
>to the new Iraqi government.
>
>We have seen similar developments both in Egypt and in Pakistan. In 
>the recent Egyptian elections, the radical Muslim Brotherhood, 
>despite being suppressed by the Egyptian government, won a large 
>number of seats. In Pakistan elements friendly or neutral toward al 
>Qaeda control about half of the government. In Iraq, Bush's invasion 
>has replaced secular Sunnis with Islamist Shia allied with Iran.
>
>And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we 
>see the total failure of Bush's Middle Eastern policy. Bush has 
>succeeded in displacing secular moderates from Middle Eastern 
>governments and replacing them with Islamic extremists. It boggles 
>the mind that this disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!
>
>What does it say for democracy that half of the American population 
>is unable to draw a rational conclusion from unambiguous facts?
>
>Americans share this disability with the Bush administration.
>According to news reports, the Bush administration is stunned by the 
>election victory of the radical Islamist Hamas Party, which swept 
>the US-financed Fatah Party from office. Why is the Bush 
>administration astonished?
>
>The Bush administration is astonished because it stupidly believes 
>that hundreds of millions of Muslims should be grateful that the US 
>has interfered in their internal affairs for 60 years, setting up 
>colonies and puppet rulers to suppress their aspirations and to 
>achieve, instead, purposes of the US government.
>
>Americans need desperately to understand that 95 percent of all 
>Muslim terrorists in the world were created in the past three years 
>by Bush's invasion of Iraq.
>
>Americans need desperately to comprehend that if Bush attacks Iran 
>and Syria, as he intends, terrorism will explode, and American civil 
>liberties will disappear into a thirty year war that will bankrupt 
>the United States.
>
>The total lack of rationality and competence in the White House and 
>the inability of half of the US population to acquire and understand 
>information are far larger threats to Americans than terrorism.
>
>America has become a rogue nation, flying blind, guided only by 
>ignorance and hubris. A terrible catastrophe awaits.
>
>Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the 
>Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street 
>Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. 
>He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached 
>at: paulcraigroberts at yahoo.com
>
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