Kerry's "Phantom Poll"

[3CardMonte]

I have held off on posting this for a couple days and done a lot of searching around. I have come up empty.

What poll was John Kerry talking about in the debate that had him 15% ahead of Hillary? No poll of anything like that can be found anywhere, nor has the Kerry campaign provided the poll to any news outlet requests for it.

Why would he make something like this up? What was there to gain? Why the lie?

Maybe the poll was of his campaign staff.

Anyone have any idea what he was talking about?

[meegbear]

1. Wondering that myself ...

haven't seen anything. And people here are known for posting poll results.

[Renew Deal]

2. I have never seen that.

It's sounded like BS then, it's BS now.

[tsipple]

3. I Found the Poll

Question: Who would look better in a pair of Army fatigues?

John Kerry 38%
Hillary Clinton 23%
Undecided/Don't Know 39%

Fox News Online Poll: We report, you decide.

[Renew Deal]

22. Wow

The accounts have been created.:silly::yourock:

[Monte Carlo]

27. Come on, is that real?

Would Fox News really have a poll like that?...

... never mind.

[LuminousX]

4. Some say he was joking/others say an internal poll

Fundamentally, it doesn't matter. We can either grill him over it or give him the benefit of the doubt.

[quinnox]

5. Why does it bother

you so much? How do you know it was a "lie"? What if it was a simple error, is that possible? I don't know of any of the candidates that haven't misspoke from time to time.

[3CardMonte]

7. Simple error

This was no simple error. Was it a calculated, planned lie? No. Did he make an idiotic and completly false statement in response to a question he didn't like? I would say yes.

[Monte Carlo]

10. Are you trying to distort this beyond all recognition?

This is something Republicans did to Clinton for 8 years.

[quinnox]

12. Kerry is human

All the candidates say things that are stupid or false from time to time, Dean most of all.

[Padraig18]

9. The word 'lie' is overused on DU.

It has ceased to have any meaning that can be translated into 'real-world speak'. :shrug:

[3CardMonte]

13. my definition

making a statement that you know, prior to speaking it, to be false.

I think Kerry's "poll" statement meets this defintion.

Is it a big deal? No. Will it cause him problems? Maybe. Not that specific statement, but it shows an ability to make crap up on the spot to suit his needs.

[Padraig18]

14. We use the word 'lie' here as the opening salvo in a game of "Gotcha!"

My point was simply that there are 'lies', and then there are lies.

[mzmolly]

29. The reason it bothers me is because Kerry calls other candidates 'liars'

for similar statements. I guess I'd expect him to hold himself to a higher authority if he's going to point fingers KWIM?

[lameone]

6. I liked looking in the background...

at the other candidates. I saw Sharpton and Edwards look at each other, and you could see the telepathic question they were saying to each other: WTF is he talking about?

[Monte Carlo]

8. Does it really matter?

I mean, polls are basically vapor anyway. How long shall we nitpick?

[lameone]

11. Because

It matters because in every poll I have seen (about 10 or so), Clinton is has 3 times the support of the leading candidate, which isn't even Kerry!

[Monte Carlo]

18. So shall we try Kerry or just hang him right now?

I mean, I could give you a poll right now.

[Hep]

23. I doesn't matter

unless you care about presidential candidates making public flubs.

If it were Dean who said it, Kerry would have a page on his website chastizing Dean for lying to the amreican people.

[Monte Carlo]

26. Flubs like "I did not have sexual relations with that woman?"

If I spent all my energy fixated upon every little inconsistency or gaffe about a Democrat, I wouldn't have time for much else, and I wouldn't have any candidates to lend my support to.

It's not fair to lash someone over hypotheticals.

[mzmolly]

30. SPOT ON HEP!!!

This is why it's important that Kerry hold himself to the standards he holds other candidates to.

[KaraokeKarlton]

24. It matters a lot

when Kerry is pitching a fit over insignificant comments and mangling quotes by Dean to spread false information. This shows how casually Kerry is able to speak lies, fibs and untruths. I don't trust him at all.

[Monte Carlo]

25. So is this a tit-for-tat?

What kind of mangling and misinformation?

If we're going to start blaming politicians for being politicians, I don't see how we're going to get anywhere. Dean has had his moments just like Kerry has, so in either case it seems we'd have to look past that.

[mzmolly]

32. Kerry hasn't looked past that..

unless were talking about John Kerry.

[livinontheedge]

15. I think almost everyone believes he "made-up" that poll.

Fox News had a story on it yesterday afternoon and claimed they asked his staff repeatedly for the poll and where told "later". Kerry did himself no good to have uttered what everyone assumes to be an untruth.

[quinnox]

16. Well, I wouldn't exactly rely on Fox news

The only people who believe what Fox says are dittoheads.

[livinontheedge]

19. Cute.

[mzmolly]

33. I saw it on MSNBC as well.

I just want to see the poll Kerry spoke of, I saw Kerry say the words myself, so I'm not relying on Fox or MSNBC.

[MessiahRp]

17. I think you all have it wrong

I think he was mentioning polls that have him ahead of the Democrats that are currently running. Someone said that there was a poll with Hillary ahead of the pack, and he said I've seen ones with me in front by 15 points, which I think meant ahead of the Hillary-less pack.

Rp

[3CardMonte]

20. No

Here is his exact quote.

"Well, it all depends on which poll you look at. I saw a poll the other day that showed me about 15 points ahead of her."

[HFishbine]

21. Not Exaclty

COOPER: Senator Kerry, we've got an e-mail for you. It says, "What do you think about the recent polls that put Hillary Clinton 20 percent ahead of all you guys?" (LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

KERRY: Well, it all depends on which poll you look at. I saw a poll the other day...

COOPER: I knew you were going to say that.

(LAUGHTER)

KERRY: I saw a poll the other day that showed me about 15 points ahead of her.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0311/04/se.03.html

[mzmolly]

28. Sorry I missed this one and started a new thread...

I will look for an answer here. I heard he lied about 'asthma' and being Irish also, I guess this is becoming a concern for me personally.

[Zynx]

31. He was doing one of two things.

He was either making a stupid vague statement about how polls don't matter or he was being a really bad liar.