Bill Clinton Wins Round One of the 9/11 Public Relations War!

[wyldwolf]

Forget for a moment the pundits who are rendering their expert analysis over the Clinton-Bush 9/11 blame sweepstakes. Its too early to tell who has the upperhand now. Think of it as a great heavyweight fight. Round 1 was ABC’s “Path To 9/11″ and the resulting furor over the film’s inaccuracies.

Who did the judges give that round to?

Let’s peak at the score cards so far…

BEFORE the movie aired:



In the poll results above, we see Bush edges Clinton by a nose on who the American public blames most for not capturing Osama bin Laden. However, AFTER the movie’s airing, the numbers shift dramatically.



Bush surges ahead by 11 points on who Americans blame “a great deal” for failing to capture bin Laden. And in the category of who should get the most blame, Bush again leads by an astonishing 18 points!

Round 1 goes to Clinton! Round 2 was last weekend’s FOX News… stay tuned to see if anyone has the cojones to do another round of polling next week!

[AtomicKitten]

1. although this victory is not appreciated by some here

it is clear Clinton opened up debate on precisely who is responsible for 9/11. Finally the MSM has moved on that question and has started to look at Junior's abject negligence. It's a can of worms opened by Path to 9/11 and IMO Clinton not only had every right to bark at the loaded question posed to him assaultively on Faux News but he did a great job stating his case.

[davidwparker]

4. That's what I hoped would be the blowback from ABC's miniseries.

BTW, I've not watched ABC since.

It's good that we have that conversation because it could have been stopped if there were competency in the WH.

[AtomicKitten]

6. me neither

In fact, I had my cable company block ABC and credit my monthly statement to get the message across.

You may have noticed the thousands of threads promoting a boycott pre-Path have resulted in acquiesce for the most part by DU'ers. Rosa Parks is spinning in her grave.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Chris Wallace should have not asked the question

if he didn't want to hear the answer.

The interview was supposed to be about Clinton's global initiative and under the circumstances CW stepped over the line. At that point, Clinton had ever right to defend himself and his administration from the right wing slander that CW and others perpetuate.

Thanks, to Wallace's ignorance, the door was opened to a place the Repugs really don't want to go. What really did happen on 9-11? Why did Bush and the top BushCo leadership disappeared while the 9-11 attack was in progress?

[AtomicKitten]

10. excellent point

and I agree. Some here are slamming Clinton for his response which boggles my mind. How often does a Dem get up in their grill at such impudent questions? Not often enough IMO. And now the Rs can't put the genie back in the bottle. I hope My Pet Goat comes up out of sheer pettiness on my part. Let's really discuss who's weak on terror.

[Tiggeroshii]

2. I don't think it's good to compare polls from different research companies

like that. They use such different formulas, and their patterns aren't consistent with each others' because their formulas are different. I would be interested in what the cnn poll has to say now, and what the answer to gallup's qestion would be. I've been noticing, while following these opinon polls on congress, that polling companies have their own ways of measuring things and while it may be okay to average the polls and get an accurate measurement, the comparisons over time don't account for much.

Rothernberg talks a little about it here..

http://www.rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/

[wyldwolf]

5. I see your point... but...

You would think results from an almost identical sample size between the two polls would be close. Usually, different polling outfits garner similar results (look at the latest Bush numbers, for example.) These polls were taken a several weeks apart with the high profile movie landing between them.

[ellenfl]

7. the interesting thing is that gallup tends to lean right.

don't know about the other one.

ellen fl

[trotsky]

3. That's why they hate him so much.

Every single time they fight him, he wins.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. thanks for this. I was just struck by something that unnerves me.

The parallels between the US and nazi Germany are growing stronger every day. (yesterday's and today's congressional actions are just one step closer to domestic fascism) I am reminded of two quotes by Joe Goebbels, some german dude who happened to be the very successful minister of propoganda.

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

This is pure Rove. The barking dogs in the RNC, the House and the Senate, have taken their talking points, their orders really, and brilliantly used this Rule of Propoganda on so many occasions, that it is shocking that liberals and moderates continue to buy into the traps created by the GOPers. (the traps being acknowledging the actual complexity, the mistake of offering politeness and courtesy, consideration of alternatives, and the truly horrific use of logical/rational analysis)

It also means that your post is an analysis of how well Big Bill and the GOP have managed to follow Goebbels' advice. It is good that Bill is winning the debate. It is sad that we (our nation) is so susceptible to such Rovian techniques.

Goebbels other famous quote is just as applicable today as 66 years ago:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”


This describes exactly what the Bushistas and their apologists have done for 6 years. That is why your post scares me. It is though we are in a mind control contest, with the best spinners winning the prize. Then again, the actions of this White House have proved that we as a species (humanity at large) have done little or no maturing. Darfur, the eradication of the Genevas, the growing executive power concentrated in the hands of evil, greedy and manipulating liars.

[sandnsea]

11. Those are not the same question at all

Bush is the one who let Bin Laden go at Tora Bora and that info has been out there for years. That's got nothing to do with what led up to 9/11. Gads. These two polls don't mean anything.

[wyldwolf]

12. are you looking at the same polls the rest of us are?

Gallup: "How much do you blame (Bush/Clinton) for the fact that Osama bin Laden has not been captured or killed: a great deal, a fair amount, not much, or not at all?"

CNN: Overall, how much do you blame each of the following (Bush admin./Clinton admin.) for the September 11th terrorist attacks: a great deal, a moderate amount, only a little, or not at all?

Surely you're not trying to say the respondants are drawing distinctions between not capturing bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks? In the public's mind, the fact bin Laden was not captured resulted in the 9/11 attacks.

The questions are almost identical in their meaning.

[sandnsea]

13. There's a five year difference in their meaning

The lead up to 9/11 is completely different than the 5 years Bush had to capture Bin Laden. They are two different questions in two completely different polls and it's completely possible for someone to blame Clinton for 9/11, but blame Bush for not capturing Bin Laden since then.

[wyldwolf]

14. perhaps to someone who knows the fine details

..but the questions were no doubt inspired by the controversy leading up to and the aftermath of the ABC movie, which implied that because Clinton did not capture bin Laden, the result was the 9/11 attacks.

[sandnsea]

15. As if everyone knows about the movie

These questions are just different. It's like the polls about Bush lying about war - IF it were true, should we CONSIDER impeachmnt - lots of people interpret that to mean people support dragging Bush out by his toenails, but that's not what those polls say. Funny thing, I know you know that the nuance matters. You want to rally around Bill to help Hillary, that's your right. But it's pretty obvious.

[wyldwolf]

16. I'm sure many more know about the movie than the Tora Bora incident

You want to pretend these polls are different, that's your right. But it's pretty obvious.