NBIII lodges an accusation of lying:
After five years of U.S. military occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, 60 percent of the American people favor ending the occupation and withdrawing our troops from Iraq.
Why lie? The only way you get those numbers is by phrasing the question very carefully, and not attaching any relevant codicils (“Would you favor removing the troops from Iraq immediately if it means that what will shortly follow is a civil war in which millions will die and millions more will become refugees?”). You’re too damned smart to not know this.
Further, the only reason you can get those numbers at all is as a result of endless negative crap and nothing else being passed off as “news” by the media. Inform the people responsibly — give them a balanced view of the events, situations, and reality of what is happening in Iraq and what “cut and run” means — not just to America but to the Iraqis — in short, letting them make an informed decision about the actual situation, well, THAT just can’t be allowed, can it?
Your statement is a bullshit claim, and you know it. Being a libertarian is one thing — even a pacifist one. Being a defacto liar in the support of it is another. Stop getting your news solely from CNN, al-Reuters, and Lew Rockwell.
The only bullshit here is NBIII’s claim that I get my news “solely from CNN, al-Reuters, and Lew Rockwell”. In fact, I never watch CNN, pay very little attention to Reuters and don’t read Lew Rockwell all that often. I don’t even get one percent of my news from those sources, but it’s typical that an individual who swallows the neocon line would simply assume that everyone else is lying.
Here’s that “carefully phrased question” of which he complains:
If you had to choose, which do you think is better for the U.S.? Keep troops in Iraq until situation gets better? Set time-table for removing troops from Iraq? No opinion?
Moreover, I don’t recall him complaining about the following question back in March 2003 when the response was 23 percent Yes and 75 percent No. But now that it is 58 percent Yes and 41 percent No, he’s complaining about nefarious manipulations on the part of the pollsters.
In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Iraq, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, or not?
How fiendishly twisted! How could any poor American patriot possibly be expected to avoid the hidden word-traps concealed therein?
I’m all for bringing relevant codicils into the polling process, I think it would be very informative to include specifics such as “would you have supported the Iraqi invasion if you knew that it would bring a Shiite government to power, jack up oil prices and lead to an invasion of Iran?”