American viewpoint
A democracy probably works best when you have an informed electorate like we have here in America.
If you wonder why we always seem in need of some political hygiene, consider these facts assembled by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com:
"Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 -- up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds" (Washington Times, 7/24/2006); "Nearing the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, seven in 10 Americans continue to believe that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks" (Washington Post, 9/6/2003); "The same poll in June showed that 56% of all Republicans said they thought Saddam was involved with the 9/11 attacks. In the latest poll that number actually climbs, to 62%" (USA Today/Gallup poll, 10/6/2004); "The latest Harris Poll has some interesting results on public opinions of Saddam Hussein's possible links to al Qaeda. Of those Americans polled, 64% agree that Saddam Hussein had 'strong' links to al Qaeda" (Harris poll, July 21, 2006); "49 percent of Americans think the president has the authority to suspend the Constitution . . . Only a third of Americans understood that much of the rest of the world opposed our invasion [of Iraq]. Another third thought the rest of the world was cheering our invasion, and a third thought the rest of the world was neutral" (Rick Shenkman, June, 2008).
70% of Americans think Saddam had a role in 9/11. Well, look on the bright side. At least they aren't buying that 9/11 Truthteller nonsense Jesse Ventura is peddling.
Me? I'm going back to the Middle Ages to finish my essay on the Ossetians. I think they were involved in 9/11 somehow.
Labels: American public, news media, twits
posted by Clemens @ 12:08 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
"Thought" not "thinks". That poll was from 2003. Do you have something more recent?
Even I would agree with the more recent poll stating that Hussein had "strong links" will Al-Qaeda. "Strong" is, unfortunately, a relative term. Affirming that is not the same as saying that he gave any material support to Al-Qaeda. One simple link would be that Al-Qaeda engaged in terrorism and advocated it on behalf of the Palestinian people; Hussein likewise sponsored terrorism and gave financial bonuses to Palestinian families who had lost a suicide bomber.
Then there are the 30% of Democrats who believe that the Bush administration knew in advance about the attacks of 11 Sep. This belief was nurtured by the current chair of the Democratic Party, which suggests that the Democratic Party is unfit to rule the nation, either because they believed Howard Dean for saying such things, or because they are craven enough to exploit it for political gain.
Perhaps on that last point, though I personally do not know a single Democrat that has anything other than contempt for the idea that the US had anything to do with the attacks. This is different for thinking that the admin was asleep at the switch which seems to be well attested. Until 9/11 they simply were not interested in the possibility of terrorist attacks because they were focused on other things (as new admins often are). Either way you slice it, the misinformation is appalling.
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