March 29, 2005

Thanks to Johnny Dollar's Place, which is THE Media Blog, we are able to read what Dimocrat pollster Pat Caddell said about that ubiquitous CBS poll in which almost 70% of the American people supposedly indicated that they wanted Terri's feeding tube to be removed and for her life not be saved.
Caddell, who's a pollster himself, (Ding!ding!Ding!) states with certainty that it is an agenda-driven "push poll" that got the desired results:
'This Poll Is Designed to Produce Certain Results'

PAT CADDELL: Well I'm very concerned, because I've always said in the years I was polling, that if you tell me the results you want and I'll write the questions for you. Now sometimes we ask people when they don't have a lot of information, this is a very complex case, what they think. But what's being presented in these polls, particularly with CBS when it's so disturbing to me because it's being cited everywhere, and it's not being cited accurately. But when you start your survey interviewing people, and describe a situation which is not the actual condition of Terri Schiavo, you have a problem. But even more importantly, the question that has been drawing the most attention is the argument that 82% of the people said they didn't want the President or Congress involved in this matter. Well that's not what the question was actually asked. The question that was asked on the poll was whether they should be involved in determining, in deciding what should happen to her. I happen to disagree with what the Congress did, but that is not what they did. They simply allowed her the right to go to Federal Court to seek a review of the facts. This is being presented, and then everyone is saying well look, we have a huge majority of evangelicals concerned, everyone's saying they're against it. That means George Bush is in trouble, everyone's opposed to this. That's not what was asked. And you have to be very careful, both that people understand the actual situation, and form the questions the way that people can make a proper judgment. As well as report them as such. What's being reported today by CBS, and what is being said on the other networks which are using CBS's poll rather than their own surveys, is saying that people say they should not be involved.That is not what was asked of people.

Pat virtually declares that this poll's results are worthless as "truth," yet it's been cited over and over and over in the last few days, as he states--even by Conservative commenters!--as a valid indicator of "the people's" desired income for Terri.
I feel set up!
Instead of being down to the overreaching, god-like, power-crazy judiciary which is the reality, Terri's death by dehydration and starvation can now be portrayed as the "will of the American people!"
(Oh and CBS wants us to know that "most Americans" don't like "evangelical Christians" or the Bush brothers either, while they're allegedly taking the country's temperature.)
Outrageous.
Where are all the folks who said they'd never believe anything coming out of CBS News again after Rathergate?
Dan's gone, but the Bias and the Agenda remain.
I encourage you to go to the link and read the whole thing--Caddell is one Democrat I like!
He's brilliant and funny and no-one nails his fellow Liberals like he can.
(He's been wished to the cornfield by his party along with Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman.)