I Just Couldn't Let This Go

I know, I know. You’ve heard me rant about the substitution of reporting polls for reporting actual facts more than once. And since I had written about the general subject fairly recently, I was inclined to let the recent CBS poll go. But the more I think – or stew – about it, the more I feel like something needs to be said.

The poll to which I refer is the one CBS touted on its Monday evening news show. Of course, the headline to this story was the fact that 66 percent of those polled believe President Bush has been describing things in Iraq as “better than they are.” As is the case with most of the polls now being reported as news stories by an ever-more lazy media, this poll is absolutely meaningless.

You see, in order to make an accurate assessment of the question of whether the president is describing things in Iraq as better than they actually are, a person needs to know two things: What President Bush is saying about Iraq, and what is actually going on in Iraq. The first is fairly easy to learn, the second is well-nigh impossible for the average citizen who, one would assume, was the focus of the poll.

There is only one way to know how things are in Iraq – to actually go to Iraq and see for oneself, or talk to someone who has been there. And the simple fact of the matter is that most Americans – including yours truly – have not had the opportunity to do either.

Once again, there was a question not included in the poll results, and probably not in the poll itself. That question is “Why do you feel this way?” I understand, of course, that this is an open-ended question which makes it unattractive to pollsters, but at the very least, it is a question that the viewer of this report should keep in the back of his mind has he ponders this poll.

The simple fact of the matter is that most Americans have developed their assessment of the situation in Iraq by what they have seen reported in the news media. And interestingly enough, there have been several members of the media who have actually acknowledged that the tragic stories coming out of Iraq make for “better news” than the stories about new schools being built or power grids coming on line. So it is not surprising that much more of the former is reported than the latter. Should it be surprising, then, that people will feel that the expression of an optimistic viewpoint – like that of the president – is at odds with what they “know” about the situation, given what they’ve been told? In their desire to push public opinion in favor of their agenda, the media has managed to assure the results of this poll before it was ever conducted.

This is just another way for the liberal media elite to push the fable that President Bush is an immoral leader who is willing to lie to the American people in order to get what he wants. And the twist that seems to give this idea greater credibility in this instance is that through clever manipulation they have managed to get the American people to say it for them.