A front page article this morning about its most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, by WaPo staff writers Richard Morin and Dan Balz, ran under the headline “Bush Support Strong After Convention.” A sub-head noting that Bush’s lead might be only temporary was, I thought, on the borderline between gratuitous and instructive, but a comment in the article was strongly on the gratuitous side of that line. (Interestingly, in the version of the article now online the sub-head to which I referred has been replaced by a new one, “Kerry Favorability Rating Plunges In New Survey.”)
After noting that “Republicans achieved virtually all their objectives last week in New York, particularly their goal of making Kerry less acceptable to voters,” Morin and Balz write that “What will not be known for another few weeks is whether Bush’s gains are transitory, as Kerry’s were in the immediate aftermath of his convention.”
That’s not really a problem, but in my opinion what followed a bit later is (emphasis added):
The poll suggests that Bush and the GOP successfully, but perhaps only temporarily, altered the issues agenda since the convention, shifting public attention away from the economy, on which voters have generally given Bush negative marks, to terrorism, an issue on which he has always been stronger.
Excuse me, but nothing at all in the poll suggested that Bush’s gains might be temporary. They might well be temporary. And there’s nothing wrong with the WaPo poll mavens pointing that out (though they shouldn’t have to keep repeating it throughout the story), but that conclusion or implication or possibility (or hope) is not in the poll results.
Do WaPo writers and editors really believe their readers are likely to believe that the findings of a poll taken 50 or so days before an election are fixed, final, and unchangeable? They seem to.
Forged Memos Query Continues
Well readers, I don’t know what I can add to the ongoing story about the possibly fake documents. Let’s see what Big Media has to say. From the Washington Post (registration req.):Documents unearthed by CBS News that raise doubts about whether Presid…
“What will not be known for another few weeks is whether Bush’s gains are transitory, as Kerry’s were in the immediate aftermath of his convention.” Ha. Kerry’s “gains” after the DNC were only in the feverish imaginations of his mainstream-media cohorts, who decided to phony up some little good news by oversampling Democrats in a couple of polls. These jokers are going to get their skulls crushed in when the sky falls on their heads come the dawn, Nov. 3.
I agree that the repeated wishful thinking was unnecessary, but I can live with that. My disgust is for the unashamed performance of the MSM in running interference for Kerry and his incredibly hypocritical “band of brothers” posture. He has no honor and the MSM has obviously reveled in the chance to twist the knife into Vietnam veterans one more time. If Kerry wins, his victory will an insult to every man and woman who ever served.
PS: I mistakenly posted the above comment to two other posts before I hit the right spot. Maybe you all should just ignore me until I get my sugar checked. :)
“but perhaps only temporary” =
“We are actually praying to the goddess (or the spirit of Marx, or whatever the hell journalists these days believe in) that this is only temporary. VOTE KERRY!”