Rasmussen Poll: Majority agrees with Obama on meeting with rogue nations

[rhombus]

Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that the next President should meet with the heads of nations such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea without setting any preconditions. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% disagree while 24% are not sure.

That question came up during last Monday’s Presidential Debate with Illinois Senator Barack Obama saying he would commit to such meetings and New York Senator Hillary Clinton offering a more cautious response. Democrats, by a 55% to 22% margin, agree with Obama.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/public_divided_as_to_whether_new_president_should_meet_with_heads_of_iran_syria_north_korea

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Wow, Mrs. Clinton's Off Of Her Game

What's the world coming to when the Clintons can't even get their polling numbers straight before uttering a word?

[TeamJordan23]

14. yeah, Mark Penn's job might be jeopardy. haha. nm

[Colobo]

2. ¡Muy bien! Gobama- Our Next President!

[Grandrose]

3. My kinda poll!

Naive my :kick: :rofl:

[PATRICK]

4. So much for

the other campaign going in for the advantage. If this is how they simplistically and yes- stupidly- respond we are in for big trouble- again- in the simplest of political tactics. Somehow they managed to create a net advantage, or emphasize one, for their opponent and lose points on the issue AND political front. This bodes very ill for dealing with the propped up schlump the GOP will raise up out of the ashes.

I would rather then go for Obama, the new guy, if only I had more confidence that eventually he would go for the change and not start falling back on the same remoras that attach themselves to the Clintons or anyone else whose judgment is so bad as to trust them.

Small consolation that most Dem candidates are afflicted with this scourge or willing to adopt it once they become a frontrunner in need of more staff.

[illinoisprogressive]

5. Washington Post is having a discussion with readers on why

the disconnect. the readers overwhelmingly say obama won debate and the fight and the pundits think the opposite.
So, they want to find out why this is so.

[IndianaGreen]

28. The disconnect is that Beltway echo chamber

To cite one example, the Beltway people say that NAFTA is good, but they are not the ones that had to endure loss of jobs as a result of NAFTA.

[Dawgs]

29. The difference is that the public doesn't want Bush anymore.

No surprise that the pundits would be for it.

[TeamJordan23]

6. Americans are rejecting the old traditional way of politics and foreign policy. nt

[David Dunham]

7. Wrong. The pundits are killing Obama on this and will sway the public

[TeamJordan23]

8. Same media pundits that did not question the Iraq War in 2002. I rather trust the public than them.

Just like how the focus groups thought Obama did the best in the last debate.

[rhombus]

9. This time around, the American people are waking up

Pundit class gave us Iraq. After 2006, the American people said we've had enough!

[MannyGoldstein]

11. Not This Time, I Suspect

After all that's happened the last few years, I think that people are tired of pundits and tune them out.

For example, six years ago, if I mentioned single-payer health care (i.e., Medicare for all) I'd get yelled at, even by most Democrats, fueled by pundit-generated crapola: "It'll cost too much", "Do you want health care to work like the Post Office?", etc. Things have changed dramatically - when CNN's medico-pundit Sanjay Gupta recently ran his disgusting hit piece about SiCKO, claiming that US health care is actually superb, the overwhelming response was that Gupta was a lying turd.

[Clark2008]

31. Actually, yes, I want health care to work like the US Postal Service.

It's as reliable as Fed-Ex and UPS. It costs less than either one of those other ones. And, where else can you send something for 42 cents? Where can you get jack diddly for 42 cents?

The Postal Service isn't without it's faults, but it's certainly not bad.

[jefferson_dem]

12. Yeah, you're right. The rabid right wing blogosphere is clearly in Hillary's corner...

:eyes:

[Ethelk2044]

20. Media does not vote. The public does

[geek tragedy]

25. That's the Clintonista philosophy in a nutshell--screw the people

it's the media elite who count!

[The River]

10. Not Talking To "Hostile" Nations

is exactly what *bushit does.
So how is MRS Clinton Different?

[gulliver]

13. Poll didn't ask whether Hillary's response was better

The full question should have included "without preconditions and in the first year". Then the possible reponses should have been

Yes (Obama's answer)
Not without preconditions (Hillary's answer)
No. There must be servile obeissance to Zod first (Bush's answer)

The poll can't be trusted. The only way to find out if people agree with Hillary or Obama more is to show the actual debate excerpt and then ask them which candidate they agree with more really. Any inference that Rasmussen's poorly framed poll question implies Obama had the more popular answer is grossly mistaken -- but likely to be widely believed.

One might ask "Would you rather have a beer with Bush or Gore?" The answer is meant to imply more than the question really asks? The answer is taken in subtext to express presidential preference because of the context of the question.

[Colobo]

15. It can be trusted because Obama was favored...

[Benhurst]

16. 42% is not a majority. In this case it happens to be a plurality.

[msongs]

17. Geez, don't let the facts get in the way of the SPIN - 58% though otherwise nt

[maximusveritas]

33. A majority of Democrats agree.

That's the more important number

[MGKrebs]

18. It's a bogus question because Obama has said he didn't actually answer the

question that was asked. Clinton and Obama have exactly the same position.

In a separate interview with the newspaper, Obama said: "What she's somehow maintaining is my statement could be construed as not having asked what the meeting was about. I didn't say these guys were going to come over for a cup of coffee some afternoon."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/24/politics/main3094391.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3094391

Which of course means "preconditions".

[goodhue]

19. certainly they do

and I'm one of them
nonetheless I think Obama stumbled into this position

[Ethelk2044]

21. I am glad several media and the public disagree with you

[goodhue]

24. why are you glad?

what's wrong with talking with world leaders whom we may disagree with

:shrug:

[sandnsea]

22. It's a show of strength

The people understand. And I think some Democrats better remember that 50% of the people don't vote, and they don't vote because the way our leaders lead makes no sense to them. Being strong enough to meet with your enemy is something that everybody understands.

[Jack Rabbit]

23. Senator Clinton started the week with an assist form a neocon putting his foot in his mouth

She's ended the week by trying to sound like a neocon putting her own foot in her mouth.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

26. As odd as this will sound, I don't think this is the real issue here

I think this dust up is about two larger questions about Clobama. #1 is Obama experienced enough to be president? Team Clinton is using this to further the claim he is not ready for the job (with a side of using it to take the "new kind of politics" sheen off of Obama). #2 Is HRC more of the same? Team Obama is trying to use this to paint HRC as a continuation of traditional policies and cast Obama as an agent of change and outside-the-box thinking.

[sampsonblk]

27. I think you're onto something

Looks to me like Clinton is getting a bump out of this. That tells me that the real issue is not the two positions, but rather what this (phony) dust-up tells us about the two candidates.

[leaninglib]

30. Another poll that demonstrates the fact that most Americans don't

have a clue.

[bigdarryl]

32. Proves once again the cooperate media whores were wrong by backing Hillary

they live in a vacuum and not in the real world. the reason they agree with Hillary is because they want to continue these crazy ass wars.

[Ethelk2044]

34. Voters are not stupid no matter how much the media would like us to be