A small, but encouraging development. A Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that, despite the Repugnicant's best efforts, an overwhelming majority of Americans isn't buying the idea that their new president is responsible for their country's economic meltdown.
Despite the furious efforts of the Repugs in Congress and their shills at FOX (Hannity) and elsewhere (Slimebot) to tag Obama with the Bush era mess, Americans by a massive majority put the blame where it belongs - on their financial industry.
Now anyone who reads this blog would think that much was obvious but don't forget this is a citizenry that was totally taken in by an emperor with no pants for many years; a people that believed their houses were infinite ATMs; a nation of borrowers who have truly acted as though they alone could defy gravity. When you've been that far out on the branch for that long, getting back to the centre is a long climb down.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/30/AR2009033003415.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Showing posts with label public opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public opinion. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Harper's Ace In The Hole - Canadian Ignorance
Stephen Harper and his cronies have been waging a war of deception on the Canadian people. Steve, ever the sly hustler, knows full well that the public is vulnerable to his tactics. He knows he can feed them lies and they'll believe him because he knows they're haplessly ignorant about their nation and their government.
Why did this miscreant have so much success when he and his thugs parroted the line about an opposition coalition being a coup attempt? Because, as he well knew, the Canadian people would accept his lie, would take it as truth. They would believe that Steve was telling them the truth so there was no reason for him to tell them the truth.
Why did Steve tell them that the Bloc was part of the coalition? Because he knew they would swallow that lie and, having taken the bait, he could appeal to their base prejudices.
Stephen Harper is the Dick Cheney of the True North. There is no lie he's not prepared to tell, no crass manipulation that's beneath him. These are merely his tools of the trade, the hammer and anvil that Steve uses to dupe an unaware and gullible public, to forge them to his will.
Steve learned what Cheney taught - that ignorant people are not only gullible but also very susceptible to fear. They can be exploited at will.
At the onset of our latest constitutional tiff an Alberta paper noted that Steve's best weapon against the opposition was public ignorance for that was the key that allowed Harper to frame and win the debate in the public's mind.
Just how ignorant are we Canadians? Astonishingly ignorant, something borne out by the Dominion Institute's survey conducted by Ipsos Reid. From the Toronto Star:
The prime minister is not our head of state. We are not a representative republic. We do not elect our prime minister directly.
results of the Ipsos Reid survey show 75 per cent of Canadians asked believe the prime minister, or the Governor General, is head of state. Bzzzz – wrong.
It's actually the Queen. Only 24 per cent answered correctly.
Marc Chalifoux, president of the Dominion Institute, said he decided to commission the survey after an opposition coalition threatened to topple Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government, and Harper responded by asking Governor General Michaëlle Jean to shut down Parliament until late January. Chalifoux wanted to gauge people's understanding of what had transpired.
"Canadians certainly were interested by what was going on in Ottawa, but lacked in many cases the basic knowledge to form informed opinions," Chalifoux said.
The four questions asked "aren't just trivia," he said. "These are part of the basic tool kit of knowledge that citizens need to function in a democracy."
A question 90 per cent did answer correctly was about the Governor General's power to refuse to call an election at the request of a prime minister who no longer has majority support. She has the power.
At a time when our prime monster waxes eloquently about sending young Canadians to Afghanistan to fight, and die, for democracy, his contempt for that very institution at home in our Canada speaks volumes.
Why did this miscreant have so much success when he and his thugs parroted the line about an opposition coalition being a coup attempt? Because, as he well knew, the Canadian people would accept his lie, would take it as truth. They would believe that Steve was telling them the truth so there was no reason for him to tell them the truth.
Why did Steve tell them that the Bloc was part of the coalition? Because he knew they would swallow that lie and, having taken the bait, he could appeal to their base prejudices.
Stephen Harper is the Dick Cheney of the True North. There is no lie he's not prepared to tell, no crass manipulation that's beneath him. These are merely his tools of the trade, the hammer and anvil that Steve uses to dupe an unaware and gullible public, to forge them to his will.
Steve learned what Cheney taught - that ignorant people are not only gullible but also very susceptible to fear. They can be exploited at will.
At the onset of our latest constitutional tiff an Alberta paper noted that Steve's best weapon against the opposition was public ignorance for that was the key that allowed Harper to frame and win the debate in the public's mind.
Just how ignorant are we Canadians? Astonishingly ignorant, something borne out by the Dominion Institute's survey conducted by Ipsos Reid. From the Toronto Star:
The prime minister is not our head of state. We are not a representative republic. We do not elect our prime minister directly.
results of the Ipsos Reid survey show 75 per cent of Canadians asked believe the prime minister, or the Governor General, is head of state. Bzzzz – wrong.
It's actually the Queen. Only 24 per cent answered correctly.
Marc Chalifoux, president of the Dominion Institute, said he decided to commission the survey after an opposition coalition threatened to topple Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government, and Harper responded by asking Governor General Michaëlle Jean to shut down Parliament until late January. Chalifoux wanted to gauge people's understanding of what had transpired.
"Canadians certainly were interested by what was going on in Ottawa, but lacked in many cases the basic knowledge to form informed opinions," Chalifoux said.
The four questions asked "aren't just trivia," he said. "These are part of the basic tool kit of knowledge that citizens need to function in a democracy."
A question 90 per cent did answer correctly was about the Governor General's power to refuse to call an election at the request of a prime minister who no longer has majority support. She has the power.
At a time when our prime monster waxes eloquently about sending young Canadians to Afghanistan to fight, and die, for democracy, his contempt for that very institution at home in our Canada speaks volumes.
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