http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/lack-of-coherent-dem-response-on-torture-taking-toll-helping-cheney/Lack Of Coherent Dem Response On Torture Taking Toll, Helping Cheney
Some striking new polling from Gallup suggests that the lack of a coherent response to Dick Cheney’s torture offensive is taking its toll on at least one high-profile Democrat while simultaneously helping Cheney begin to salvage his reputation.
The Gallup poll finds that two of the leading officials on either side of the torture argument — Cheney and Nancy Pelosi — have equally poor favorability ratings. But here’s the key point: They are at parity because Cheney’s ratings have gone up and Pelosi’s have dropped during the period that both were heavily identified with the torture issue.
Pelosi’s favorability rating is at 34%, down eight points from six months ago. Cheney’s is at 37%, up seven points in the same time period. Cheney’s rating is actually higher than Pelosi’s.
As Gallup notes, Pelosi has been more closely identified with the torture issue than any other Dem, mainly because of her ongoing dispute with the CIA. Meanwhile, the overall Dem pushback against Cheney’s torture offensive has been incoherent at best and nonexistent at worst.
Top Dems (Obama aside) have taken Cheney about as seriously as a circus sideshow, chortling about his low approval ratings while rarely rebutting his actual arguments. Result: His claims have continually gone largely unchallenged, and he’s largely framed the debate. My bet is that this helps explain why Cheney seems to be rising in the polls and Pelosi is sinking: Dems have given Cheney an opening, and Cheney took it.
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