I know americans are uninformed, but this is ridiculous...

[choie]

Gallup Poll shows most americans favor Alito nomination - even Democratics are supposedly not passionately against him

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-060110gallupalito,1,267063.story
:argh:

[ClassWarrior]

1. Well get out there and start informing!!!

We ARE the Progressive Media!

NGU.

[adarling]

2. probably not true

i don't trust the polls anymore, the questions are very onesided and are sometimes worded ever so slightly to confuse people on certain issues. Take for instance the privacy battle and the polls on CNN, the wording is sooo off just enough to make people think differently.

[jwirr]

4. I especially do not trust Gallup Polls.

[NoFederales]

9. Trust no corporate media--especially POLLS. They are the

perfect bitty-byte snacks for the numntters we used to know as citizens.

NoFederales

[savemefromdumbya]

3. find that hard to bellieve- most them haven't heard of Alito

[LibDemAlways]

5. The average American couldn't name a single

member of the supreme court. Most have no clue who represents them in Congress, either. Pollsters ask questions that people automatically answer "yes" to because they don't want to admit they never heard of the guy and they think it's what the pollster wants to hear.

[Little Star]

7. Why pray tell...

are civics classes not mandatory in school????????

[LibDemAlways]

8. Excellent question.

I have a twelve year old in 7th grade in a "Blue Ribbon" district who has never spent one minute in class discussing what we used to call "current events." I remember when I was in middle school, each day a different student was responsible for bringing and sharing a story from the newspaper so that we had some idea what the hell was going on in the world.

Schools are so bogged down these days teaching state standards so the kids can pass the end of the year standardized tests that civics has been completely discarded. It's a damn shame.

[bumblebee1]

10. Some of these same people

could name every driver in NASCAR or are more informed about happenings within the NFL or any other sport.

[LibDemAlways]

11. And they sure as hell could go on

for hours about Laci Peterson and Natalee Holloway. And I guarantee if shown photos of Brad and Angelina and then Dick and Lynne Cheney, millions more could ID the movie stars. I'd bet big money not 3 in 10 could place the Darth Cheneys. It's pathetic.

[unlawflcombatnt]

16. The Problem

You've stated the true problem. We're flooded with the media's nonsensical reporting of completely unimportant events. The Corporate giants that control the media play and then re-replay this nonsense to the exclusion of any real information. They not only distort facts and overall public sentiment. They control the subject matter presented in the news, which essentially eliminates debate on any real issues. They frame the public dialog.

This is reminiscent of the distraction job they did on the 2004 election results. Following the most contentious election in U.S. history, the Corporate media immediately shifted focus to the Ukrainian election. This was a completely deliberate attempt to distract from the U.S. election that resulted in a winner more favorable to Corporate America and the corporate-controlled media. Coverage of the Ohio recount was practically non-existent, though interest in this subject was high enough to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from small donations from concerned voters.

The Corporate media definitely supports a pro-corporate, pro-monopoly Supreme Court nominee like Alito. And they'll continue their under-coverage and slanted coverage until he is affirmed, just like they've continued to under-cover Bush's illegal wiretaps, Bush's placement of illegal signing addendums on Congressional bills he's signed, investigation of Plame-gate, and investigation of the falsified information Bush used to get us into Iraq.

It's up to us to make sure major events are covered. The internet and radio shows like Air America are our only outlets. We need to maintain our vigilance on covering the real issues, since the Right-Wing controlled Corporate media will not cover them.

[LibDemAlways]

17. I have a friend who works for the

local CBS news affiliate in LA. He swears up and down that the only thing that motivates news execs is profits and that stories like Laci Peterson's murder increase ratings and thus, the bottom line. He refuses to recognize that those same execs are enjoying generous corporate and personal tax breaks and favorable treatment thanks to the repukes in power and are not going to cast their benefactors in a negative light.

You are correct. The internet, Air America, and our own individual voices are all we have to fight the monster.

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Polling is the third leg of the BushCo corporate media stool.

The first is the "quid pro quo" to the corporations and on air talent that play ball. The second is the paid propaganda that is injected into the news stream. The polling leg enables BushCo to "push" information and implement the "herd" mentality in regard to approval of it's crimes and desires.

Gallup/Gannett/USATODAY are not even trying to hide their bias anymore. The questions are crafted so the response desired is elevated.

[kwolf68]

12. It amazes me

That so many are shocked at the vacuous existence of the common American’s minds eye.

It’s not all their fault. They (We) are becoming enslaved to a way of life that burns us out, degenerates families, erodes relationships, creates an overtly competitive lifestyle, forces us to work too much and enjoy life too little, that has us living in a specter of fear that we’ll lose our jobs to some third world nation, while at the same time we want everything with no sacrifice and we want it now…Oh but American Idol is on tomorrow and that’s what is really important, not the general state of our republic.

Now, we have Plasma TVs…A really neat technology that will make “TV watching” an even bigger addiction. Yep, we can produce the neatest little gadgets for the common man while we are still not making any headway in curing diseases that are literally killing life, we still can’t find a way to bring peace to the world, to create a just humanity where every living soul gets to feel what its like to walk upright and be strong instead of begging for the crumbs their military dictators give them.

I’m not cynical, but I don’t think our nation gives a shit about anyone other than themselves. In poll after poll, its clear we are a very empathetic and concerned nation, but if it infringes on “our right” to consume without impediment, to waste resources then damn it to hell.

[Vinnie From Indy]

13. I believe Rome experienced similar woes

[renie408]

23. Bingo! Freaky, eh?

Americans are being turned into batteries for the economy, sort of like in The Matrix. "Consume, consume, consume". The problem being that it cannot be sustained. Eventually, we consume ourselves into debt and poverty. We are like a snake eating its own tail.

[0007]

14. Guess are these folks are drunk, huh?

Should Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito be confirmed? * 108,085 responses

Yes
43%

No
57%

MSNBC Poll

Cast your vote here

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. No, they really are that uninformed

:-(

[Neil Lisst]

18. 6 of 10 Americans can't name a single Supreme Court Justice

Only 1 of 10 reads an editorial page, ever.

The collective ignorance is killing us.

[agincourt]

19. Unfortunately,

If it's a RW rag like the two main Nebraska newspapers they are actually better off not reading the editorial page. It's either RWswine like Cal Thomas or fluff. The LTTE are usually stuff from stupid Rush Liesbaugh junkies. Often they will print letters from the same dittomonkey 4 times a year. Intelligent stuff, that I know has been sent in, doesn't get printed.

[Neil Lisst]

20. While true, there are other newspapers if they choose.

The problem is less than 15% of Americans read any newspaper regularly, and most of them already have their minds made up about politics.

It's the level of ignorance that is noteworthy, irrespective of the region and its natural political leanings.

[devinsgram]

21. In my 59 years I have never seen more

Lazy and politicaly uneducated people and one day we will pay a price for it. While everyone is more worried about keeping up with the Jones' our democracy is going down the tubes.

The problem is,if it does not concern their everyday life or make an impact on their lives personally, they don't have time to bother because it does not concern them. Having your head stuck in the sand happens to be a very common ailment.

But, not to worry, the time is coming when all will awaken to ask the question,"what the hell has happened to my country, and all we can say is 'while you were sleeping' it slipped away."

[Dr Fate]

22. Most Americans supported the invasion of Iraq too. So what?

Are DEMs going to go along with media-inspired perceptions again or are we going to base our strategy on facts & reality for once?

[McCamy Taylor]

24. That's a big "IF" there. 56% opposed if he overturns Roe.

So, if the Dems claim they are convinced he will overturn Roe V. Wade and they fillibuster him, they will mobilize their own base, because their own base will believe that Scalito was going to overturn Roe v. Wade and this was why the Dems acted.

I say it is time to Fillibuster.

[lxwen85]

25. Americans are not informed because the government controls the media

and control what they want people to know.

[snowbear]

26. Well... the article does say they took it "before" the hearings began..

Maybe there's hope that at least some of them actually paid attention to the hearings and have now changed their minds?

Yeah.. .... right.