New Poll Exposes Idiot Dem Consultants As Idiots -By: David Sirota

[kpete]

New Poll Exposes Idiot Dem Consultants As Idiots
by davidsirota
Mon Jun 11, 2007

You know the conventional wisdom from DC consultants which says that Democrats from "tough" and "rural" districts have to avoid talking about the war? Seems like this new bipartisan poll shatters that BS meme entirely.

davidsirota's diary :: ::
Here are they key excerpts:

"A new national poll indicates rural Americans are no longer reliably Republican, and the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq seems mainly to blame...The poll was commissioned by the non-partisan Center for Rural Strategies, a Whitesburg, Ky., group trying to attract candidate attention to rural issues. Republican political consultant Bill Greener of Greener and Hook also participated in the design and analysis of the survey...The numbers reflect a plunge in Republican support among rural voters...Concern about the war in Iraq seems to be the reason for the decline in Republican support, according to respondents in the new poll. Three-fourths of those surveyed know someone who is serving or has served in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan...Forty-one percent named the war in Iraq among their two top issues for the president and Congress. Half agreed with the statement that 'the current course cannot bring stability, and we need to start reducing the number of troops.' Half also agreed with congressional attempts to reduce troop levels in Iraq...These responses show a complete reversal from earlier surveys of rural voters, where clear majorities favored the president's approach."

Again, this cuts directly against the conventional wisdom that is spewed inside the Washington Beltway. As just one example, let's remember pollster Fred Yang, who said that Democrats' recent move to give President Bush a blank check for his Iraq policy was "obviously a good move" - yet according to the actual data, it was only "obviously a good move" if Democrats' goal was to alienate voters.

.....................

Let's hope this new poll breaks through the Beltway echo chamber - and gets Democratic politicians to stop listening to their insulated, cliche-driven consultants who play into the Fox News meme of "supporting the war means you are strong on national security" - a meme that most Americans do not believe. And let's hope that those Democrats who have been trying to end the war are seen for what they really are: Heroes who are not only trying to stop a destructive foreign policy, but also doing what needs to be done to strengthen the Democratic majority in Congress.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/11/111940/525

[RufusTFirefly]

1. Who says politicians work for the voters?

I know that's the way it's supposed to work, but that's not how it actually works. Why is the Democratic leadership waging such a frustrating, flaccid campaign against Bush's warmongering? It's simple: War is good for big bidness. And the bidness of America is bidness, voters be damned.

Why else would Democrats and Republicans be working together to cheat Iraqis out of their own oil? If you keep trying to find a logical justification for these betrayals other than the obvious one, you're liable to go nuts.

[Tom Joad]

9. Damn Straight!

[bobthedrummer]

2. kick

[bigtree]

3. Sirota cites ONE pollster and Sen. Schumer, oh, and he cites 'conventional wisdom'

all to use 'idiots' and 'Democrat' in the same sentence.

The poll is interesting, but it says nothing about 'Dem Consultants' (save the one pollster who thought the funding bill was 'a good move', which Sirota calls a 'blank check.'

Good poll, cheap shot at 'Dem Consultants' and off the mark shot at Sen. Schumer, who he criticizes for expressing concern for 'red states' in an ancient vote on the reauthorization of the revised Patriot Act.

I really can't stand the whining from Sirota about the Democrats. I really can't see his point in attacking Schumer in a 'post' about 'Dem Consultants'

[The Count]

6. But Schumer hold the purse for senate elections - him and Ram decide who

can run and who can't. So, not that irrelevant, me thinks. (I don't always agree with Sirota, but he has a point here- people in charge believe the enemy pundits.

[TheWraith]

4. Not supporting Republicans doesn't mean that they would support Dems.

I live in a very rural area, and while it's true that support for the Repubs is low because of the war, that doesn't neccessarily translate into support for Democrats. There's a lot of other issues that the Repubs can and do use to hold themselves up: mainly guns, gays, and God. So sure, you can find a Dem candidate that will win on the war alone, but then you end up with the conservative Democrats that everybody here hates and rails against. I don't doubt it will get even better for us going forward, but I strongly discourage anyone from thinking that the rural bloc is as undecided as this article tries to make out. It's still very conservative out here, and the realistic choices are between a conservative Republican and a conservative Democrat.

Also, it's worth noting again that we here on DU don't represent the average person: while most of the country is now against the war, they also don't support defunding, or an immediate withdrawl.

[cascadiance]

5. Hmm... So these consultants are having a harder time rationalizing DLC talking points...

... by trying to rationalize that "moderate Americans want it that way..."!

America's waking up folks! They're not "moderate" positions at all. They're CORPORATE positions! Sooner or later you WILL be exposed! SQUIRM!!!

[tom_paine]

7. Operation Mockingbird v2.0 is more for the Imperial Congresspeople

or at least as much as it's for the Imperial Subjects of Amerika.

[Tom Joad]

8. The consultants look at only one demographic, the only one of any importance, it consists of only

a few thousand people at most.

they don't care what most voters think. They care what the DONORS think. not the donors that send in $20 a pop. The donors who send in $20,000 a pop (or $200,000 a pop, or even $10,000,000 a pop like Haim Saban). That is the crucial demographic, the only one that matters. As far as everyone is concerned, they can go to hell as far as the consultants are concerned. With the big money, they can get the votes... after all, its not like there is competition of politicians who will really work for regular folks, they barely exist and are easily marginalized.