Thought Theater

Polls Be Damned - George W Knows Best genre: Just Jihad & Polispeak

President Bush has his own interpretation of public opinion...one that is contrary to existing polling data. In fact, the president has taken to offering his particular version in public appearances, a move that strangely fits the modus operandi of this administration. They seem to believe that if you say it often enough, it magically becomes the truth. The following excerpts are from an Associated Press article.

Democrats view the November elections that gave them control of Congress as a mandate to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. Exit-poll surveys by The Associated Press and television networks found 55 percent saying the U.S. should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq.

The president says Democrats have it all wrong. The public doesn't want the troops pulled out - they want to give the military more support in its mission.

"Last November, the American people said they were frustrated and wanted a change in our strategy in Iraq," he said April 24, ahead of a veto showdown with congressional Democrats on a troop withdrawal timeline. "I listened."

"A lot of Americans want to know, you know - when?" he said at a Rose Garden news conference Thursday. "When are you going to win?"

Polls show that leaving - not winning - is most Americans' main goal.

In a poll released Friday by CBS and the New York Times, 63 percent supported a troop withdrawal timetable of sometime next year.

Another this month from USA Today and Gallup found 59 percent backing a withdrawal deadline that the U.S. should stick to no matter what happens in Iraq.

The article also points out that the lack of a clearly defined alternate plan of action in Iraq (think Democrats cave on a withdrawal timeline) likely provides this opportunity for the White House to define public sentiment. If one believes the premise that people are, for the most part, followers, then the lack of leadership on the part of Democrats cedes that role to the Bush administration. How unfortunate.

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