I really wonder about something, and think it calls for study...

Given that the Corporate Media sure as hell didn't tell them the truth about anything, how did 65% of the general public actually manage to find out what a disaster Bushco has been?

CM says the economy is going well & unemployment is low. We don't see any war dead. Shrub is a "Popular Wartime President." WP saz a majority favor wiretaps, torture & whatever else the Puggies want to do in the name of the WOT.

So how did the masses get clued in on how bad things are?

About the only thing they can't hide from ANYBODY is gas prices. I've seen that amazing Pollkatz graphic linking Shrub's popularity to gas prices, but is that really IT? Fucken GAS PRICES?

Or are people actually somewhat tuned in to reality via the blogosphere, AAR & Godknowswhat?

I think it would be a damn good idea to find out what's working on public opinion out beyond the reach of the propaganda nmachine, and how.

People won't do shit until it kicks them in the wallet.

Gotta make it personal. The bullshit that Fuckface has pulled - right down to hiding the coffins of the dead soldiers - has left the sheeple able to deny, deny, deny, and go on living their lives.

Then gas went to three bucks a gallon, with no respite in sight.

majority of the population ARE worried about Iraq; those courageous generals who came out against Rummy helped that, coupled with the constant stories about lies that were told about WMDs. A big stink was made about Libby (and soon Rove), thanks to the courageous Wilsons. And finally, the gas prices are hitting everyone in the pocketbook. It's having a cumulative effect imo.

Has spun and disregarded the truth for years. However, the truth is vigorous, and gets out anyway. Even with neutrality defined as balancing every 'Lican negative with a Dem negative (even if not even remotely equivalent), the truth leaks out.

And then there's the Internet -- where NOTHING goes by without comment, and where inconvenient facts continually poke their noses above ground level.

Also, the sheer complexity of the lies this administration is forced to tell, and the overall ineptitude of its members, mean that those lies are sloppy with internal contradictions, and they tend to fall apart over time. People, on the whole, aren't stupid -- just credulous.

My taxes went up more than my income this year. When you keep hearing about tax cuts, tax cuts, and you don't see anything extra in the envelope, it begins to sink in.

If you pick up a newspaper you read about more death and chaos in Iraq.

The generals are restless.

The Dubai ports deal was covered heavily, and even FoxNews allowed in some outrage.

And then there's immigration ...... The rich Republicans want a guest worker program and the working class Republicans (what an oxymoron) want to kick 'em all out -- and nobody's happy.

These are just a few of the stories in the Naked Bush City.

I do not believe in the idea that 1000-2000 people who decided to take the time to answer a poll (online, phone, what have you) represent a cross section of the American people's opinion. Usually they only represent the radical ends, meaning the people who feel so passionately for or against the issue that they think they need to participate.

What's worse is that Newsweek said today that a poll they conducted says that 65% of Americans think that parsing a mammoth database of phone calls looking for terrorist patterns (which is an absurd idea by itself) is a great way to fight terrorism and 44% strongly agree with its implementation. I just can't (or don't want to) believe that is true.

The MSM has shown too much of a propensity for bias in favor of the administration to give any credence to any poll they conduct. Combine that with the relatively small sample size and the fact that theses polls are usually taken from the newspaper/magazine/website readership and, IMHO, the data becomes wholly corrupted.

I think the only people who will disagree with me are those whose jobs depend on conducting or using these polls, and their objection will be based on their need for them to exist, not the validity of the information they provide. The rest of us should remember that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics and polls are just corruptible statistics.

--p!

No, we do not see flag-draped caskets, but that doesn't mean people don't know the numbers of the dead and wounded. This also touches people personally, i.e. they've lost a friend, relative, a neighbour, the son or daughter of a co-worker, etc.

As little coverage as the MSM gives the progress of the war, it is apparent from the little news we do get that things have gone from bad to worse, and show no signs of improving.

This Administration can lie about a lot of things - but you can't lie to the citizenry about what's going on in their own lives. You can shout from the rooftops about how great the economy is, but the average American knows better.

They know who is out of work, and for how long; who has been downsized, outsourced, who has lost their overtime benefits and their medical coverage. They have personally been cut-off from social programs that are no longer funded, or they know someone else who has been.

They know they have less disposable income now than they did five years ago. They know that not only are gas and heating prices up, that added cost is now being reflected in everything they buy, from produce to furniture, because the higher cost of transporting goods is being passed along to the consumer.

Americans now know (finally) how bad things are as a result of BushCo's scatterbrained policies. They know because they live with the consequences of it in a million small ways every day.

So no one has to be propagandizing Bush's many failures. They have finally hit HOME with the average John Q. Public, and that's why Bush's poll numbers are where they are.

The situation in this country economically, politically and militarily is so f*cked up that the policies and practices that led us here should be deemed criminal and those responsible (as well as those who support them) should be rounded up and put into the huge prisons Haliburton was recently contracted to build all over the country.

I pay so much for gas now that I'm not sure my family will be able to eat this week between now and when I get paid next on Friday. Not only that, but it has strapped us so low that I don't even know if I will make it to work tomorrow (good thing my work week is Fri-Mon).

On top of that, I work as a workforce management specialist for a customer service outsourcing company and they decided three years ago to cap my pay (and I make UNDER 27K a year). Is anyone else out there trying to support their family on a single income in this range? It is so frustrating that sometimes I want to hurt someone. What's even worse is the fact that I hate myself for working at a company whose practices I believe are evil and destroying the American way of life, but sadly THIS IS THE BEST PAY I CAN GET IN MY AREA!

I take some solace in the belief that, when his true day of judgment comes, the God that GW and his cronies are soooo convinced they are acting in the name of will shake His head in shame at their actions then open the trap door that drops all of them into the lake of fire. Sadly, that solace doesn't feed my family.

I've been in many conversations with people who say they don't follow all this and yet they seem to know a lot about what's going on. I think much of the info is getting out through emails and in conversations with friends and relatives.

Lots of older retired people watch it and spread the news at their morning coffee sessions and to their families.

I didn't think of that.

Many Americans just aren't interested unless it hurts them in the pocketbook.

at least locally--I know OKC has been hit hard this year and last. I imagine similar things are happening across the country.

A lot of the stories come over the AP. Small town papers and those without a National Desk run the AP story. Lots of people read them.

I was surprised by the same phenomenon with regards to a recent poll showing that the majority believed the 2004 election was stolen.

Where did they hear this? Do they all watch Olbermann?

damaged or dead, Katrina-Katrina-Katrina, baffling Medicare crap, "fixin'" Social Security, jibber jabber of some scandals, nuclear bombing Iran talk.

After a while, something's got to kick in.

struggling compared to a few years ago, you won't give a shit what the media says.

Iraq war, Libby arrest, Cunningham in jail, Delay indictment and resignation - and the Democrats who HAVE been making hay over every one of these issues.