TR> On 03-27-10, DAVE DRUM said to ALL:

DD>>* A pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism
DD>>* has infected the Republican Party. HereÆs new data to prove it:

 TR> Since when does verbally and strongly disagreeing with a
 TR> president, become `pathological hatred'?

 Since when has the possibility of strong but reasonable
 disagreement exclude the possiblity of pathological hatred?

 Your comment is only meaningful if you deny anyone at all holds
 pathological hatred of the president.

DD>>* 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall)
DD>>believe that Obama is a socialist.

 TR> Much of the healthcare bill foisted on America by this
 TR> president is for the `have nots' at the expense ofthe
 TR> `haves'. Thats socialism.

 No, actually it isn't. Justice is often for the have nots from
 the haves. Christianity is full of for the have nots from the
 haves.

 Most of all, that health care bill almost completely helps the
 working people of this country.

 A living wage for people who do the work is, by your thinking,
 socialism. Justice is socialism by your standard.

DD>>* 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama
DD>>is a Muslim

 TR> This president's religion has nothing to do with leading
 TR> the country down to ruin.

 And that is a non-sequitur. His statement is what the survey
 showed, his conclusion derived from that, and your objection is
 diverting from the subject.

DD>>* 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the
DD>>Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United
DD>>States and so is not eligible to be president"

 TR> There has never been a `bonified' birth cedrtificate
 TR> produced, showing that this president was born in the place
 TR> it is claimed he was born.

 The Certificate of Birth he released is the one issued by the
 state of Hawaii. The governor of the state of Hawaii, a
 republican, said she personally inspected the records, and the
 certificate released is accurate.

 TR> If claiming a newspaper ad is
 TR> proof of his birth having actually taken place in the
 TR> United States of America, you could try telling the gas

 The newspaper ad is offered as evidence the certificate released
 was not faked up in recent years. Who was planning 40+ years ago
 for any particular person to be president of the US? Who would
 plan that 40+ years ago?

 TR> company the poster on your bedroom wall is proof that you
 TR> paid your gas bill last month! You could `try' it. But if
 TR> its unpaid in reality, your gas might be shut off anyhow!

 If you have a receipt, and a picture of you paying the bill,
 they will have to admit you paid it.

DD>>* 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama
DD>>is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"

 TR> Hitler lead the people along with vast promises of `hope
 TR> and change' as well.

 So did Reagan. So has every president facing a great challenge.

 Winston Churchill did many of the things Hitler did.

 Ronald Reagan did many of the things Hitler did.

 Dick Cheney and the rest of the Cheney administration, known
 officially as the Bush administration, did Hitler in spades.

DD>>* Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall)
DD>>say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

 TR> I doubt it.

 I'm sure he's not. As I posted years ago, GW Bush was the first
 of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, and we have three more
 to go through before we get to the AntiChrist.

DD>>These numbers all come from a brand-new Harris poll, inspired in part by a
DD>>new book Wingnuts. It demonstrates the cost of the campaign of fear and
DD>>hate that has been pumped up in the service of hyper-partisanship over the
DD>>past 15 months. We are playing with dynamite by demonizing our president
DD>>and dividing the United States in the process. What might be good for
DD>>ratings is bad for the country.

DD>>The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the
DD>>health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier
DD>>to extremism.

 TR> Many of those polls are done among people who typically
 TR> sign up to take polls in exchange for cash or gifts. How
 TR> accurate could such a poll be, anyway?

 Commercial product polls are done by people who sign up for cash
 or gifts. Political polls go random as much as possible.

 TR> Phrasing of a question will bias the answer as well. Again,
 TR> influencing the response.

 And that is likely what happened with the right wing polls that
 showed Health Care reform doing so badly.

 However, when it's obviously just for fun, why bother?

 TR> With the phrasing of the question, the pollster eliminates
 TR> many alternative answers, and subtly guides the respondent
 TR> toward the desired answer, thereby skewing the result.

 TR> By throwing in `religion', the poll hardly qualifies as
 TR> anything serious. Of course, it will resonate well with
 TR> democrats. It serves to demonize those who object to this
 TR> president's policies, even further.

 Just for fun, as above.

DD>>Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe
DD>>such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less
DD>>easily duped. ItÆs a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace
DD>>Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the
DD>>vacancies  of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of
knowledge."

 TR> One does not, of course, need a `college' education to be
 TR> qualified to like or dislike a president and their

 True. And the uneducated are likely to be easier to lead, and
 deceive. Which is what the right specialize in.

 TR> policies. Those who did not attend colleges as they are now
 TR> in America, are far less likely to have a left-leaning bias
 TR> to their thinking. They are far less likely to have the
 TR> `revisionist' slant that seems to be taught in our colleges
 TR> and universities, now-a-days.

 IOW, they are asleep at the wheel.

 TR> In an America where violent radicals such as Bill Aires and
 TR> Bernadine Dohrn, instead of inhabiting prison cells for the
 TR> domestic terrorism they engaged in and encouraged, are
 TR> esconced in teaching positions in one of our universities,

 Hey, GW Bush should share Bill Ayer's cell.

 Dick Cheney belongs in Supermax.

 TR> what is the exact value of a `college' education? Just how
 TR> complete, and wide -viewed an education could be expected?

 About $100,000 over a lifetime. Or more.



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... More than you really wanted to know, huh?
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