same technique

I have some extraordinarily progressive friends in downstate Idaho, and more in the amazing city of Coeur d'Alene.

which is the definition of stereotyping

The place is a haven for right wing hate mongers, your friends being an exception thank goodness.

But for the same reason it's both offensive and highly inaccurate to listen to wingers rail on about inner cities being nothing but welfare queens, drug addicts, and gang thugs, it's uncool to blanket describe Idaho or other "known red" enclaves as hives filled with detestable reactionaries. They're not.

As Sting sang thirty years ago, "Trust me when I say to you, the Russians love their children too."

This red-team/blue team stuff gets me down. The real assholes are neither red nor blue, but the red/blue hatred serves their purposes *very* well. Which is why they push it.

I'm tired of being manipulated.....

Best to you, Hoyt. I know I used this as a soapbox. But I do get your point.

Sun Valley is a prime tourist destination for right-wingers.

them are sucked in by rwhackery.. when they were all for releasing Bergdahl before it happened.

"could be that right-wingers are pounding the site"?

Unless you need a paid subscription to the paper to take part in the poll, you can pretty much assume any online poll on any issue more significant than "birdbaths: pro or con?" will have partisans exhorting their pals to push the poll in their favored direction: "Freep this poll!"

Online polls like this are more than "completely unscientific". They are completely worthless.

aren't we dems "DU'ing" this poll the OTHER way?

Hint: you can vote twice if you have two different browsers. Finally a use for Internet Explorer!

just keep hitting "reload" or "refresh."

but if you do clear cookies....

I vote, click refresh, and vote again.

to a website,they only thing they "prove" is the naivete of the people who believe they have any meaning at all.

Two things: First, it's an online poll, folks. It no more represents the views of just the residents of that area than a DU poll does of wherever Skinner's server machine is located. Secondly, Sun Valley and Ketchum aren't the neon red areas of much of the rest of the state. There are many progressively minded people there.

The typical rush to paint the entire state as filled with neo-Nazis and crazed RW survivalists is deeply wrong and frankly tiring to those of us who actually live here.

And it does have its progressives. My daughter went to Boise State.

to portray all of Idaho as backward. I live in Georgia, after all, so I'm well aware that there are many of us living in the "belly of the beast" who are working to change the prevailing ideology of the state in which we reside.

Also, you and a couple of others have reminded me that online polls are not worth the pixels they're printed on -- so I'm updating the OP to reflect that. I considered deleting the OP altogether, but I think people should be aware of this poll and of this newspaper.

BTW, here's a more positive report from the same publication:

Valley celebrates release of native son

Idaho Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, center, celebrates with other valley residents the news Saturday that U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been released. The gathering took place at Zaney’s coffeehouse in Hailey, where the soldier once worked, one of the focal points for rallying support in the community.


Photo by Willy Cook

. . . someone should tell them the military believes this might have been the last chance to free him.

What the hell is wrong with some people? It is just a paper poll, probably not a good sample.



A sign in Hailey, Idaho, refers to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Getty


In a Facebook post, Dempsey said in response to "those of you interested in my personal judgments about the recovery of SGT. Bowe Bergdahl, the questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover ANY U.S. service member in enemy captivity."

He added: "This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him."