Why Why WHY are people so STUPID?

[Jack_Dawson]

"Bush Increasing Lead on Kerry"
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/19/bush.kerry.poll/index.html

Who with more than five brain cells would vote for a lying, appointed numbskull of a president who can't even string together two coherent sentences? It's a disgrace.

I seriously don't get this country sometimes. It's really discouraging.

[berner59]

1. I know I know...

We need a place to go here where we can be reassured that it's only April and the country will wake up...or maybe an icon that just says..."it's only a poll... it's only a poll"

It's frightening out there, this is our only safe haven...

[muchacho]

2. cognitive manipulation

We are an optimistic and trusting people and therefore are easy to deceive (rumors of cynicism notwithstanding).

And like it or not people do respond to vague allusions to authority and paternal figures. The Reps use these devices much better than the Dems.
on edit:

I do believe the tide is turning and the Bush team is drowning in their own deciet and incompetance. The Dems should take advantage by lending a hand that pushes thier head under without seeming to do so.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Declining educational standards, plus a lazy, compliant press n/t

[OpSomBlood]

10. Exactly.

So little emphasis is placed on the effect of our educational decline on progress elsewhere.

A lazy, uncurious populace is a wet dream for a tyrant.

[Killarney]

4. No matter what happens, no matter what Bush does...

all they have to do is turn on FoxNews or talk radio and they are told the spin... they are told what to think... and they're like, ok, Bush is still good, these guys say so... then the polls say it's still 50/50 and they say, ok Bush is still good. 50% of the country thinks so.

They cannot think for themselves.

[boobooday]

5. CNN is full of whores

Their analysis is very disingenuous!

The lead is less than the margin of error, so their headline is a stretch, propaganda-style.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. downright depressing

Apparently, America just isn't paying attention...

[displacedtexan]

7. Contrary to popular belief (held by freeper parents of school kids)...

you can't teach the "ability" to be intelligent.
You can teach problem solving skills and the structure of the scientific method, but you can not teach people to be smarter.

Intelligence is (according to Webster):
the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations; the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or the ability to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests).

"Ability" can't be taught.

Edited to correct a spacing error.

[BostonTeaParty04]

8. I seriously need to make a macro of my poll mantra.....

Why??? Because the polls are fraudulent!!! No.... Bush is not at 48 or 52% or anything CLOSE to that.

The polls are an integral part of the diebold election delivery system!

Keep an appearance of 'neck in neck' between bush and kerry, and when bush wins by 2%.... everyone will say, "gee, it was a close race. wish we had won."

If we had REAL poll numbers now, and bush 'won'... there would be a bloody revolution (literally). It would be, ack!, OBVIOUS that the election had been stolen.

If a REAL poll were done, I dare say you couldn't find more than 25% approval for bush right now.... I believe that....

So, if we dems were SMART, we would find a way to get a real poll done... from sea to shining sea... and get the real numbers out there.

But will it happen? Fuck no. And so... come november... when bush steals the election....we will be grasping at straws to prove it.... Oh this election here... and that election there... problems at the voting booths... and we will be portrayed as sore losers... and told to get over it. And Bush will get another 4 years plus FOREVER, no doubt.

The polling on stupid Nader is part of it. Bush has to have some showing as to HOW Kerry is not going to get at least the same number of votes as Gore did. Enter Nader and false polling for him. Et voila... 'gee, Nader did so much better... getting 8 percent of the presumed dem votes this time. Woooooo, in 2008, he will probably get a whole 15%!"

It's all bullshit. I don't understand why people say Polls are bull; and then get all freaked out when the polls show bush is doing an overwhelmingly 'fantastic' job in the eyes of the majority of the people.

Heck, I bet Hitler wishes he had had these modern polling 'techniques'.

[Luvpurp]

9. Don't fret too much about this poll

Bush has had a disastrous month politically yet according to Gallup he is gaining on Kerry. That really doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Personally I think all of these polls are meaningless until we hit late July or August that is when people will start to form their opinion in more "hardened" fashion. I think we all need to to relax a little bit an not get too up or too down by any of these polls.

[botchan]

11. 1003 people

That is the number of people they asked... That is not in anyway scientific. I do believe the people of this nation are stubborn and do not like to admit they are wrong (especially on Bush), but we have to push them and engage them. The other problem is that these Bush supporters get all their news from Rush, Hannity, and the like. We must open their eyes to the truth.

[Jack_Dawson]

13. Isn't 1003 scientific?

I can't remember my stats class.

[botchan]

18. In certain

In certain instances yes, but lately many of these polls are calling to one or two area codes. They are not reaching a diverse enough populous to have a truly scientific result. The CNN poll also stated that only 700+ were likely voters which, even further reduces the validity. Did they verify that all the likely voters where not from any majority party, etc? Did they repeat the poll to verify results?

Polling is BS and can be manipulated to easily. Personally, I am sick of seeing all the polls.

[AlinPA]

12. Those damn negative ads about Kerry are playing every 15-20

minutes here in W. PA. TV's in waiting rooms, airports, and other public places are blasting an image of Kerry that is defining him. Plus the entire TV media is on Bush's side.

He's a fighter; hopefully he will fight soon. This is going to take a lot of our effort to overcome. I'm hoping PA turns off on the negative ads the way they did in the last two elections.

[sspiderjohn]

14. They own the voting machines, so what do polls matter anyway?

nt

[sce56]

15. They own the media

That does the polls so why bother !
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[peterh]

16. In tomorrow’s WSJ….

When Howard Dean was front and center and making the noise that he did, I felt some progress….the noise has died down…notwithstanding the various books published….I’m not seeing much of a kick from the dnc or the dlc…..maybe it’s just me, but the masses really need to be kicked and slapped cause the media won’t do it unless ya get a name to start shouting again….


WSJ(4/21) Public Still Backs Bush On Iraq War

A SPATE OF new public polling produces a surprising picture: After three weeks
of the worst news yet from the yearlong American engagement in Iraq, public
support for the effort hasn't seriously eroded.
That is good news for President Bush, of course. But there may well be a time
bomb ticking away within that good news. While support for the enterprise in
Iraq is steady, it's hardly overwhelming. And both the numbers and the political
vibes around the nation's capital suggest Mr. Bush still might be headed toward
the tough decision he's hoped to avoid: whether to send more troops to Iraq
before the country lapses into a long, hot summer that could turn the numbers
around.
For now, what's most striking is what isn't happening to public sentiment.
More American soldiers have died already in April than in any month since the
U.S. invaded in March 2003. Yet in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 51%
still said the war was worth fighting. That's essentially unchanged from early
March of this year, and it's actually up marginally from the 48% who thought the
war worthwhile in February. Hardly the ringing mandate President Bush might
want, but not the collapse of support he might have feared.
Similarly, in a new Gallup poll taken for CNN and USA Today, slightly more
than half say it was worth going to war in Iraq, essentially unchanged since
early April. About four in 10 consider sending in troops a mistake, essentially
unchanged from last October.
"Once a basic level of trust is established, the public gives the president a
lot of latitude," concludes Karlyn Bowman, who analyzes polling for the American
Enterprise Institute. "You see a lot of stability on important aspects of the
war." ......................

[gpandas]

17. half of the American people don't give a fuck nt

[Piperay]

19. People get what they deserve

I guess, unfortunately those of us who deserve better have to suffer along with the idiot masses who are too stupid to make the connection. :cry:

[sweetheart]

20. Its the kali yuga

This is the long prophesized time in hindu lore of overpopulation,
and a total eclipse of truth in daily life, that people live in
intense suffering and hell, percieving themselves separate from
creation. It is a time of ego, wars for ego, and a perversion of
truth in every single area of life... and the only time when people
will see beyond it is during sex.

It is a time when you don't worry about the new inhabitents who
are reincarnating on earth as a new-hell, but rather where a wise
soul awakens and does not reincarnate here. It is a time of decline
and destruction of all that is healthy in society... and the shrub
is just an agent, and were he not there, another mushroom would
take his place, as indeed, it is the will of eternity... that an evil
shit destroy the USA and plunge the world in to living hell.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

21. bush smear machine, media whores, weak kerry campaign, complacent left

and by complacent, i mean those who are far too willing to avoid constructive criticism of bungling campaign moves on our side

[Ilsa]

22. NPR said that Bush's # go up after he appears with Tony Blair.

Everytime. But they don't appear together often because Blair's #'s go down after appearing with Bush.