D.C. "Strategists" Panic As Dems Ignore Them & Fight Back

[whometense]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/dc-strategists-panic-_b_14427.html

Here are just a few snippets of facts that the Democratic "strategists" and the Beltway media might consider before they open their yapper and spout off more of this nonsense that has distored America's political debate into Hollywood-esque fiction, and driven the Democratic Party to election loss after loss after loss after loss:

- The Associated Press reported in August of 2005 that according to a poll that month, "fewer than half of Americans know the purpose of the Patriot Act, and the more they know about it the less they like it." So in other words, the more Democrats highlight the Patriot Act's attack on people's individual rights, the more people don't like it. Yet the D.C. Establishment - unable to see past the fake "national security" vs. "anti-national security" storyline - continues to say Democrats just shouldn't talk about these issues.

- An ABC News poll in June of 2005 did show support for the Patriot Act, but did not explain what the Patriot Act was. The more important statistic in that poll, however, was when the public was asked whether it supported allowing law enforcement agencies to obtain individuals' records without a warrant. A whopping 68% of the public were opposed. This was the very thing that President Bush was actually doing in secret when this poll was taken.

- A USA Today poll in February of 2004 again showed widespread confusion over what the Patriot Act does. And when the poll delved just below the surface, it showed the public opposed to the kind of behavior President Bush illegally ordered. Specifically, the poll showed 71% of the public disapproving provisions "allowing federal agents to secretly search a U.S. citizen's home without informing the person of that search for an unspecified period of time." That is, in many ways, a lesser version of what President Bush ordered - he ordered the National Security Agency to spy on individuals' telephone conversations without telling them for an unspecified period of time - and he did so without even a court order.

- A January 2006 Associated Press poll found "A majority of Americans (56%) want the Bush administration to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists." So here we have a very recent poll saying Democrats standing up for the rule of law is actually very popular yet again, the Washington "strategic" class and the media urging Democrats to just shut up.

- A January 2006 Zogby poll found that by a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval. Enough said.

So, in short, just a cursory glance at the actual data right below the surface tells us that Democrats, far from putting themselves in "peril," will be tapping into a widely held concern about civil liberties if they continue to have the guts to stand up and challenge President Bush on his illegal spying and his efforts to expand the Patriot Act. Yet, that simple fact is rarely - if ever - even mentioned in the political discourse that spews out of Washington...

[ginnyinWI]

1. absolutely

The more they know, the less they will like * policies. The RWers are radical; the Democrats are the ones arguing for the Constitution and traditional America. It's Republicans in Congress who lack the spine to stand against the WH.

We've got to keep fighting to get past the spin machine.

[jenndar]

2. Ironically, that's from the Huffington Post,

which is so often guilty of the same thing. Oh, well.

[ProSense]

3. Exactly!

I think this is pretty cool, in one post I linked to the group that worked to defeat Bush on SS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2389987&mesg_id=2389987