Dan Froomkin writes:
El Presidente Speaks (washingtonpost.com): A new study out from the University of Maryland finds: "Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.
"Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions."
It's interesting. A *real* press corps right now would be telling people: "Are you voting for Bush because you think he stopped Iraq's WMD programs? You should rethink."
Posted by DeLong at October 22, 2004 12:21 PM | TrackBackThr *real* press corps is doing this Brad, too bad they use third person and are in furriner countries...
Best,
D
Posted by: Dano at October 22, 2004 03:23 PMIt's all simple, really. Everyone, particularly the neocon trolls lurking on the reality-based sites like this one, are confronted with the same information saying that the wheels are falling off the wagon and none of the Republican leaders have the wit to do anything about it. At the same time, we're told by these same leaders not to heed what our eyes are telling us, but rather their assurances that everything is going just swell. Faced with irreconcilably conflicting messages, we have two choices. (1) We can go shrill, and thereby keep our sanity. (2) We drink the kool aid and reject reason and rationality--or, go nuts. I think one is more likely to take the latter course if one has trusted Bush in the past. While I'm a conservative, I never really did trust the Chimp--I suppose that's what saved me.
I don't think it's the media's fault so much as the fact that a large number of us aren't strong enough to handle the massive cognitive dissonance that this administration emits. It's positively radioactive.
Posted by: Chris at October 22, 2004 03:24 PMThr *real* press corps is doing this Brad, too bad they use third person and are in furriner countries...
Best,
D
Posted by: Dano at October 22, 2004 03:51 PMBrad, plz pony up for some more gerbil food so that your comments will go faster.
Thank you,
D
Posted by: Dano at October 22, 2004 04:50 PMBut note the final clause in the excerpt Brad links to:
>>
Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions
>>
Perceptions?
Posted by: P O'Neill at October 22, 2004 05:39 PMBut note the final clause in the excerpt Brad links to:
>>
Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions
>>
Perceptions?
Posted by: P O'Neill at October 22, 2004 05:44 PMBut note the final clause in the excerpt Brad links to:
>>
Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions
>>
Perceptions?
Posted by: P O'Neill at October 22, 2004 05:45 PMThe Maryland PDF is a very interesting document! I support its suggestion that Bush supporters have been in a post-traumatic state since 9/11, thence extended by following a forceful leader's lies into a war too stupid and counterproductive to even admit to oneself, and denying all evidence... So we are dealing with a mass depression-disorder... And that foreshortening of intellect, which often attends depression, has filtered from the leader down and throughout his policies, finally to be audited and parroted by his patients--who really would be much better-off, on cheaper meds from Canada.
Posted by: Lee A. at October 22, 2004 05:57 PM"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer intrested in finding the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply to painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken."
-Carl Sagan
Posted by: Walkwood at October 22, 2004 06:23 PMThis is a symptom of a deeper disease.
The result will be a defeat for the US. Not a Vietnam style setback but a real defeat, where other countries dictate terms to the formerly vaunted superpower.
Delong should know that the numbers don't add up - that the US cannot sustain its current posture. This poll is just the band playing on the decks of the Titanic.
Posted by: alkibiades at October 22, 2004 07:42 PMTo those of us watching from the far side of the world, it seems that only in America could this be a “race”.
George W. Bush intersperses outright lies with corny, empty phrases like “the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and our future”. Cheney just lies.
It looks to me as if there's likely to be a lot less Freedom in BushWorld, not more.