Polls prove people are idiots, polls need to be ignored

If there’s one thing the Bush Administration has learned in its six-plus years in power, it’s that public opinion doesn’t matter.

“I know people make a big deal out of these things. If I worried about polls, I would be — I wouldn’t be doing my job,” President Bush has said.

Of course, while the President scoffs at reports that he’s out of touch while laughing off the will of the people, the people keep on speaking:

• Most Americans Believe Libby Deserves To Be Behind Bars, Poll says
• Bush, Congress Testing Depths of Polls
• Poll: Majorities say income gap too wide
• Poll: Liberals Are Gaining Among Young People
• Poll: Americans Say Nation Is Off-Track
• Europeans see US as threat to stability: Poll
• Americans lack confidence in foreign products, poll
• Rasmussen Poll: Bush Almost Ties Nixon For Least Popular President
• Global Unease With Major World Powers
• Poll may surprise conservatives
• Children not needed for happy marriage, poll says
• Poll: Calls To Get Out Of Iraq Escalate
• Voters Believe Iraq Is Creating More Terrorists

Nonetheless, the standard party line for the right is that such polls are utterly meaningless. Perhaps Bernard Goldberg put it best, while chatting on Fox News with Michelle Malkin:

“We go to the American people and we ask them if they can pick out Kansas on a map and they can’t. We ask them if they can pick out England on a map and they can’t. We ask them who the Vice-president is, they don’t have any idea. Who’s the Secretary of State? “I don’t know.” Then we go to them and ask them what they think of the Lewis Libby commutation? I don’t care what the American people have to say about these things.”

Whether on issues social, economic or war, the American people have stood and let their voices be heard. The Bush Administration and far-right conservatives have responded accordingly – by stating that polls are meaningless and Americans are idiots.

So keep giving your opinions and keep taking advantage of your right to free speech. Just don’t think the will of the people can override your leaders’ unwillingness to give a shit.

–WKW

Crossposted at Shakesville