Tuesday, September 09, 2014

The media exists to sell war

As the US government prepares to sell the latest round of war on Iraq, Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill (Washington Post) report on a new Washington Post - ABC News poll and observe "the nation's increasingly hawkish mood" at a time when US President Barack Obama falters in public opinion and "over half the country says his presidency has been a failure."

On Iraq, Balz and Craighill write:

Today, 71 percent of all Americans say they support airstrikes in Iraq — up from 54 percent three weeks ago and from 45 percent in June. Among those who say Obama has been too cautious, 82 percent support the strikes; among those who think his handling of international affairs has been about right, 66 percent support them.


Do they?

Do they support airstrikes?

Looking over the questions, the poll has numerous problems.

71% cannot be said to support anything.

The results demonstrate an absence of knowledge on the part of the public and push polling on the part of ABC and the Washington Post.


Q: As you may know, a group of Sunni insurgents called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, has taken control of parts of Iraq and Syria. How much, if at all, do you see ISIS as a threat to the vital interests of the United States?

**NET Serious threat**
91
%
Very serious
59
Somewhat serious
31
**NET Not serious threat**
7
Not so serious
5
Not serious at all
2
No opinion
2

Q: Do you support or oppose U.S. air strikes against the Sunni insurgents in Iraq?

 

Q: Do you support or oppose the United States providing arms and ammunition to the Kurdish military forces, who are opposing the Sunni insurgents in Iraq?

Support NET 58% 
Oppose NET 32%
No opinion


 


That 91% of the American public rate the Islamic State a serious threat to the US is a reflection of the fear the media's peddled as well as the media's own self-interest in US journalist.  They didn't and don't give a damn when it's an Iraqi journalist or any Arab journalist killed.  But let an American die and we've got weeks and weeks of coverage.

Having defined the Islamic State, check their wording, they then want to ask about actions.  We'll go into the problem there later in tonight's snapshot.

But 91% have been frightened by the media and the pollsters yet only 58% support arming the Kurds?

Doesn't appear anyone knows what's going on from the poll results.

But the pollsters know how to agitate an audience and get results, don't they?

This was not a neutral poll.

It used charged language and it used it in a manner to push results.

The real news here is how quickly, the enthusiasm for war fades within the poll itself.

That's it for this morning, I'm not in the mood.

If you want a laugh, click here and look for the ridiculous phrase.  Depending upon whether I'm feeling nice tonight (right now, I don't) I may or may not go into how crackpots allowed Iraq to fall apart -- like the one who blogged about being persecuted in libraries by the FBI, NATO and, I would assume, Mary Kay cosmetic sales women.



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