Goldberg, Coulter latest to compare Dems to birthers using flawed poll
Following Chris Matthews' misrepresentation of a flawed Rasmussen poll to claim that most Democrats believed that President Bush had or might have "gotten the inside word" that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were about to happen and that therefore "both parties" are equally at fault for promoting conspiracy theories, Bernie Goldberg and Ann Coulter cited the poll to suggest Democrats are similar to birthers. However, the poll question -- "Did Bush know about the 9/11 attacks in advance?" -- was ambiguous and likely provoked "yes" answers from people who simply believed that Bush failed to heed intelligence information that could have led to the attacks being thwarted.
Goldberg, Coulter cite flawed poll to suggest Dems are similar to birthers
Goldberg: Polling "a few years ago" showed "35 percent of Democrats believe that George Bush and the neocons were behind the attacks on 9-11." On the August 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Goldberg said: "There've been a number of columns, just in the past couple of days, saying that the entire Republican Party is a lunatic party because of the nutjob birthers -- the people who think Obama was born on, you know, Saturn or some place, OK?" He later added: "What about just a few years ago, when several polls came out that showed that 35 percent -- 35 is more than 28, by the way -- 35 percent of Democrats believe that George Bush and the neocons were behind the attacks on 9-11. ... I don't remember liberal journalists writing stories about how the whole Democratic Party needs to explain this or that how the Democratic Party is a magnet for lunatics." [The O'Reilly Factor, 8/6/09]
Coulter: Poll showed "35 percent of Democrats believe Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance." In her August 5 column, Coulter purported to list numerous conspiracy theories believed by Democrats to suggest Democrats are similar to birthers and wrote: "And as has been recently noted, a 2007 Rasmussen poll showed that 35 percent of Democrats believe Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance, while 26 percent aren't sure ... Holy mackerel." [HumanEvents.com, 8/5/09]
Goldberg grossly distorted poll's conclusion
Contrary to Goldberg's suggestion, the Rasmussen poll did not ask Democrats if they "believe[d] that George Bush and the neocons were behind the attacks on 9-11." While Goldberg claimed polling "a few years ago" showed "35 percent of Democrats believe that George Bush and the neocons were behind the attacks on 9-11," the poll actually asked: "Did Bush Know About the 9/11 Attacks in Advance?" According to Rasmussen, "Thirty-five percent ... of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know, and 26% are not sure." [Rasmussen Reports; 5/4/07]
Rasmussen poll was flawed, produced ambiguous results
Jonah Goldberg: "[P]oll is surely partly wrong," many Dems likely just think Bush "failed to connect the dots." Even conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg acknowledged at the time that the poll was ambiguous, writing: "[T]he poll is surely partly wrong. Many Democrats are probably merely saying that Bush is incompetent or that he failed to connect the dots or that they're just answering in a fit of pique." [Goldberg, Los Angeles Times; 5/15/07]
Bush did receive briefings warning of potential Al Qaeda attack
2001 presidential briefing: "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." President Bush received a briefing on August 6, 2001, titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," which indicated that Osama bin Laden wanted to conduct terrorist attacks against the U.S., that members of his Al Qaeda terrorist network had lived in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and that "FBI information since that time [1998] indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York." [Presidential daily briefing; 8/6/01]
Bush reportedly responded to CIA warning of attack by saying, "All right. ... You've covered your ass, now." According to investigative journalist Ron Suskind, Bush responded to a CIA briefer who warned him in August 2001 that an Al Qaeda attack was likely by saying, "All right. ... You've covered your ass, now." [Suskind, The One Percent Doctrine, 2006, Pages 1-2]
Matthews misrepresented same poll to suggest Dems are similar to birthers
On August 4, Matthews cited the poll in claiming Democrats are just as guilty of believing in conspiracy theories. As Media Matters for America documented, on August 4, Matthews misrepresented the 2007 Rasmussen poll in claiming that most Democrats believed that Bush had or might have "gotten the inside word" about 9-11 and that "the president deliberately sat back while American cities were attacked and thousands were killed." Matthews then claimed that, therefore, "both parties" are equally at fault for promoting conspiracy theories.
Transcript:
From the August 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
GOLDBERG: There've been a number of columns, just in the past couple of days, saying that the entire Republican Party is a lunatic party because of the nutjob birthers -- the people who think Obama was born on, you know, Saturn or some place, OK? Well, and one columnist, Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post, points to a poll and says 28 percent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States. Let's set aside for a second that the poll was commissioned by the DailyKos.
O'REILLY: And Robinson didn't mention that.
GOLDBERG: All right, let's just put that aside.
O'REILLY: Robinson didn't mention the poll --
GOLDBERG: Well, he --
O'REILLY: -- right. He didn't mention that.
GOLDBERG: I -- look, in fairness, Bill, I think he did. But let's just put that aside. What about just a few years ago, when several polls came out that showed that 35 percent -- 35 is more than 28, by the way -- 35 percent of Democrats believe that George Bush and the neocons were behind the attacks on 9-11.
O'REILLY: The truthers. Yeah.
GOLDBERG: I don't remember -- yeah, the -- right. I don't remember liberal journalists writing stories about how the whole Democratic Party needs to explain this or that how the Democratic Party is a magnet --
O'REILLY: Right.
GOLDBERG: -- for lunatics. Nor should they have written it. But when it's a right-wing nutjob movement, then, again --
O'REILLY: Yeah. Then, it gets the big headlines.
GOLDBERG: -- we get, like, a special scrutiny.
O'REILLY: But Robinson, I -- maybe he did point out it was at Kos, but you're absolutely right that there -- and this is very clear.
Anyone want to argue that Goldberg is "right" on that one?
Absolutely shameless.
The Question was this: "Did Bush Know About the 9/11 Attacks in Advance?"
That is pretty clear, regardless of ehat Jonah Goldberg or the morons here at MMFA say. And if 1/3 of Democrats answered yes to that then they are indeed under the spell of the far-left conspiracy theorists at Media Matters, Think Progress and Daily Kos since they have pounded this myth for years.
It's not clear because it doesn't specify what exactly he knew. Did he have a general idea that there was going to be an attack, or did he know the date, flight numbers, etc? He knew attacks were being planned, and it's perfectly reasonable to believe that he brushed it off because he thought our security could stop it. It does not say anything about being "behind" it or "deliberately" letting anything happen.
Ms. Gorelick's "wall" was criticized then as she should be now. To deny it is to put your head in the sand.
However, we should not continue to be blind to the potential for further attacks on our soil and the need for accuarate intelligence and info sharing.
Ok, it's not my words but proves that the democrat party is steeped in crack pot ideas and to a much higher degree overall than any republican could boast of.
Read more....
Did anyone see Bush on base after he dropped out of the TXANG? He transferred, but nobody ever saw him, as far as I've heard.
How dishonest is it to use predictions here? Why is it crazy to doubt that Clinton had sex with Monica or that John Edwards had an affair before the truth in those matters ultimately came out? The only evidence for Edwards was the National Enquirer, which is not evidence. The same goes for Duke's Lacrosse team. How are you supposed to know ahead of time what's going on with the prosecutor? Isn't it just as fair to say that conservatives were crazy for thinking that Saddam had WMD's, even before the invasion?
Besides that, your premise is flawed in more than one way. Of course "99%" of the people who believe certain things are going to be loyal to their party. The more relevant number is the percentage of party members who believe those things. And you're propping all this up against one thing on the right, as if that's the only thing there.
Neither party, and you know it. I guess when you are a knee jerk conservative you can just make things up, huh?
I got the same email, as I'm still on the Human Events mailing list. The difference is, I read them for the laugh out loud comedy factor, and nuts like PC use them as "proof".
If you look at my post, I don't take credit and link to her article. But it is great stuff none-the-less. :)
It's been pointed out several places here why it's nowhere near "great". In fact, it's ridiculously weak stuff, as is everything I've ever seen written by Coulter.
Unless by "great" you mean completely illogical propaganda that helps Republicans artificially build their self-esteem. In that case, it's great.
PC now:If you look at my post, I don't take credit and link to her article. But it is great stuff none-the-less. :)
So I guess the ":)" is supposed to mean that you don't even believe your own BS? I mean, Ann Coulter, really?
Right. I thought it was Newt Gingrich. Now I see it is Ann Coulter, who quite literally does make her stuff up. Way to gain credibility, PC--quote Coulter!
Oh, I missed this. The spectacularly innocent Jamal *was* framed. It is one of the worse miscariages of justice in our times.
Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police.[46] Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[47] Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared,[48] and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony.[49] Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession.[50] The hospital doctors have claimed that Abu-Jamal was not capable of making such a dramatic bedside confession at that time.[9]
or not.
My guess is though, returning to the thread, more high falutting democrats and in much higher numbers believed the twin towers were an inside job by Bush than you would find republicans who suscribe to the birth issue.
I also think that you won't find members of the republican party encouraging birthers the way leadership of the democrat party embraced the whacked out delusions of the left.
Funny, but we've already heard several Republic Party leaders do exactly that. All that "legitimate concerns" BS...
But that is a whole lot different from Micheal Mooore of farenhieit 911 infamy, sitting with a jimmy carter at the democrat convention, being lauded by head of the dnc after the garbage he called great conspiracies.
Republicans have nothing to do with birthers but the dems have been all over left wing kooks.
But that is a whole lot different from Micheal Mooore of farenhieit 911 infamy, sitting with a jimmy carter at the democrat convention, being lauded by head of the dnc after the garbage he called great conspiracies.
Republicans have nothing to do with birthers but the dems have been all over left wing kooks.
But that is a whole lot different from Micheal Mooore of farenhieit 911 infamy, sitting with a jimmy carter at the democrat convention, being lauded by head of the dnc after the garbage he called great conspiracies.
Republicans have nothing to do with birthers but the dems have been all over left wing kooks.
Do you have any examples of these garbage conspiracies, or the Dems who lauded Moore for them?
I don't know if I can properly express how important the "guesses" of those who are almost always wrong are to sane people.
1) Which party contains 99% of the people who think Clinton was offered Bin Ladin and let him go?
2) Which party contains 99% of the people who call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression?
3) Which party contains 99% of the people who think FDR knew about Pearl Harbor and let it happen?
4) Which party contains 99% of the people who think Reagan was fiscally conservative?
5) Which party contains 99% of the people who think video games and rap music poison people's minds, but political commentators don't?
6) Which party contains 99% of the people who believe that John Kerry is a traitor for his actions in Vietnam?
7) Which party contains 99% of the people who think Max Cleeland is a traitor and Saxby Chambliss is a hero?
8) Which party contains 99% of the people who think Rush Limbaugh would be forced off the air if the Fairness Doctrine was reinstated?
9) Which party contains 99% of the people who think they can catch AIDS through tears (ok, low blow, Frist)
10) Which party contains 99% of the people who think Iraq still has WMDs or was involved in 9/11? Which party believes there were WMDs in Iraq but they are now hidden elsewhere?
11) Which party believes that there is a conspiracy behind the 2010 census?
12) Which party believes that ACORN led to voter (NOT voter registration) fraud?
13)Which party, despite the CIA's insistence, thinks that Valerie Plame was not covert?
14) Which party believes George Soros is manipulating the whole world?
Shall I go on?
Which party contains 100% of the people who are dopey enough to not only read Ann Coulter's scribblings for any reason other than a laugh, but to interpret her fictional statistics as "proof" of anything?
Unbelievable.
Yes, please do!
16) Which party claims Colin Powell voted for Obama solely on race?
17) Which party believes that Vince Foster was murdered even though the investigation went nowhere led by their own party?
18) Which party believes that when troop funding bills don't go through under a Republican president that Democrats are helping the terrorists?
19) Which party believes that watching sex on television will make kids into sexual deviants, but that watching violence won't turn kids into killers?
20) Which party has 99% of the people who think that homosexuality is contagious?
21) Which party still supports Trickle Down Economics as a sound policy for the country?
...and right stinky too!
Larry Elder to Nigel Innis to Juan Williams to Ron Christie,
have been all over the cable news/chat arena since BHO became a major contender after Iowa.
Balance? As if there is a liberal media. The media is not liberal,
but profoundly conservative.
Did this mean he "knew" 9-11 was going to happen, I would say no. But knowing all that, its easy to see how someone could yes to this poll question. That is why its dishonest to use this poll to suggest that many people believe this conspiracy theory. "Knew" does not equal "planned".
What happened was not a conspiracy, it was the leader of our nation slacking on the job.
Enjoy!
But he is responsible for taking us to war with Iraq based on incorrect data and getting > 4000 Americans killed in a country that did not have anything to with 911.
He is responsible for selling Iraq war falsely tying it to 911.
It does not matter who publicized the incorrect data. It was, ultimately, his responsibility to make sure that he was asking people to sacrifice (not go shopping mind you but with their lives) for the right reasons.
Money, I (getting personal here) do not care. Life, I do care.