Polls say America fears sodomy more than socialism

By Nicholas Wilbur

There is nothing profound in the pronouncement that politicians only cite public opinion polls that strengthen their argument, promote their cause, and reinforce their agenda.

What is rather interesting is how quickly Republicans have abandoned the "will of the people" rhetoric now that a majority of public opinion polls show growing opposition to the GOP's efforts to overturn President Obama's signature health-care reform law.

After spending the entire campaign season of 2010 railing against reform as a "government takeover" of the health-care industry – an allegation that earned Republicans the 2010 Bullshit of the Year Award from the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact.com – the GOP last week took the first step toward manifesting its campaign promise by passing a law in the House to repeal health-care reform.

But just as Republicans begin implementing the "repeal and replace" portion of their "Pledge to America" campaign manifesto – sans the "replace" part, of course, as that would require drafting actual legislation – the ever-fickle mob up and left the GOP corner.

It was as if the public suddenly started tuning out Fox News and tuning into the boring but accurate Cable News Network (CNN). It was as if, overnight, the lies about Obama's "job-killing, budget-busting" reform no longer had the effect of paralyzing Americans with fear of a Kenyan-colonialist-Communist takeover. And every Republican in D.C. was left staring cross-eyed at their lobbyist lovers, at the brink of tears, on the edge of sanity, in the shadows of doubt, wondering if the American electorate suddenly took up huffing ether as an after-work pastime. Whatever the cause of this curse, it seemed voters had turned into a gang of liberal goons. At least that's what it felt like to read the polls.

Nobody has an explanation for why it happened, but it happened nonetheless. Somehow, the populace started to understand what repeal really means: that without the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could once again revoke coverage on a whim, deny care based on pre-existing conditions, and go back raping patients on costs and premiums without cause or pause.

In short, Americans began to fear "socialism" much less than they did sodomy: 

• A CBS/New York Times poll conducted Jan. 15-19, 2011, shows that 48 percent of Americans support the health-care reform bill compared to 40 percent who oppose it.
• An Associated Press-GfK poll shows that 40 percent support the law versus 41 percent who oppose it, a significant shift from the 38-47 split in November, and that only one in four back full repeal of the law. 
• "Strong opposition stands at 30 percent," the Los Angeles Times reported, "close to the lowest level registered in Associated Press-GfK surveys dating to September 2009." 
• A survey conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal Jan. 13-17, 2011, recorded a tie at 39 percent between supporters and opponents of the law. Those who strongly favor repeal (35 percent) nearly tied with those who strongly opposed repeal (34 percent). 

Of course, fearmongers should rest easy knowing that polls don't really mean anything, which, coincidentally, is the new mantra of the Republican Party now that public opinion no longer reinforces the GOP's anti-anything-Obama agenda.

Polls don't educate the populace about policies. They merely ask for opinions. Opinions that are based on false truths mean nothing. And because Americans watch Fox News more than any other network, most American opinions exist in a galaxy far beyond reality, on a planet populated by other intellectually challenged simian playmates. For Democrats, public opinion should be generally ignored, as it is the job of the intellectual elite to identify the ills of society and seek to correct them via reform. For Republicans, such a shift in public opinion is an omen of the eroding support of the party's base.

As an aside, it would be nice if pollsters recorded only the opinions of educated, intelligent human beings, as it would save us from having to independently decipher how many of the respondents actually knew what they were talking about, but this would necessarily exclude Sarah Palin fans and Glenn Beck followers, Tea Partiers and most libertarians, which would undermine the Republican Party's love of citing polls. What use is public opinion if you can't inflict the populace with blood-sucking parasites that penetrate logic and infiltrate reason with the apocalyptic rhetoric of socialism? If idiots are barred from the polling pool, of what use is the poll in pushing a conservative agenda?

Polling only educated, intelligent people is admittedly ridiculous and unrealistic – not to mention repetitive, as most polls already segregate respondents by party affiliation, and what Republican cares what Democrats think?

With the "will of the people" argument now rolling slowly but steadily into the Democratic Party's court, don't expect Republicans to give public opinion much credence in coming weeks. Like an incarcerated drug dealer, vox populi is no longer a convenient talking point for the politicians who've spent the last year upholding health-care polls as irrefutable gospel and unquestionable evidence for why they're advocating repeal.

Instead, look forward to a post-election continuation of the Republican Party's campaign offensive, equipped with all the scary rhetoric, math manipulation, and hyper-demonization of Obama's "socialist" agenda that characterized the last year or more of right-wing sound machine.

Or, if there is any shred of intelligence within the Republican Party's leadership, they will stop trying to appease the Tea Partiers with a repeal of health-care reform and move on to repealing Wall Street reform, revoking stimulus spending, protecting "traditional marriage." or any of the other bullshit policies they promised to pursue in their "Pledge to America."

(Cross-posted from Muddy Politics.)

Here's hoping Speaker Boehner learns to speak the truth

By R.K. Barry 

A CNN / Opinion Research poll conducted between December 17 and 19 indicated that 56% of Americans hold either a positive view of Obama's health-care reform or are of the opinion that it is not liberal enough. More specifically, 43% like it as it is and 13% would probably have liked to see a public option. That leaves 37% who are opposed because the reform package is too liberal and 7% who have no opinion.

Let's be clear here. Of those expressing an opinion, 56% reject the Republican critique of "Obamacare" and only 37% side with the GOP.

Given those numbers,  it is rather difficult to understand what Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) was talking about when he said of health-care reform that "we just need to repeal it as the American people have spoken out and said."

I'm sure if I spent just a bit of time doing some Google searches I could find a dozen more Republicans saying that their midterm gains were in large part about Americans rejecting health-care reform. I know recently-installed House Speaker John Boehner has been saying similar things. You will forgive me if I don't dig up all the relevant quotes. It hardly seems necessary. 

John McCain recently railed against the repeal of "don't-ask-don't-tell" as an affront to the electorate despite the fact that polls put support for gays serving openly in the military at upwards of 80%. Same idea. Say the opposite of what is demonstrably true and a lot of people will believe the lie and repeat it either because they want to believe what is untrue or because they are too lazy to do a bit of research.

We're not talking about differences of opinion about things that cannot be shown empirically but about things that are, by modern and generally-recognizable standards of truth, considered to be matters of fact. And before you take issue with polling as a source of gathering information of citizens preferences, I assure you that it has become pretty darn accurate over time.

But just think about the idiotic ideas that have fairly recently been in circulation amongst far too many Americans: Obama is a Muslim; he was not born in America; he is a socialist; he hates America; climate change is an elaborate hoax; and almost any piece of weirdness that comes out of Glenn Beck's mouth. And then there are the claims by various Republicans that Americans reject health-care reform or gays serving openly in the military.

Conservative politics in America seems to be far too much about just saying shit, no matter how absurd, just to see who is either stupid enough or lazy enough to accept it as truth.

I once read something, which I admit may not be true but struck me as plausible and at least suggestive. It was a claim that the KGB, the intelligence agency of the former Soviet Union, would work through its networks to put clearly untrue information in circulation that would support its interests simply because a certain subset of the population will always accept as plausible anything they hear and repeat it.

In my experience, it is not uncommon to hear someone offer an opinion contrary to all facts with the commnt that they had heard it somewhere, though they could not tell you where or what proof was provided.

For the longest time, the suggestion that tobacco did not cause cancer was in this camp, though thankfully that is now a part of the past.

As I say, just put it out there and some people will believe it and repeat it. Too much of politics is done this way, which, when bending the truth, seems to be about the maxim "go big or go home."

What I would say to the Eric Cantors and John Boehners of the world is that they should go ahead and work for the legislative agenda of their choice or the choice of those they think got them elected. But please do try to keep the bullshit to a minimum about the extent to which you are speaking for "the American people."

Although if you want to attack health-care reform, which seems to be pretty popular, and fight for tax cuts for the super rich, which seem to be pretty unpopular, that's fine with me. See you in 2012.

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost.)