I guess it's possible.
Posted on 08/26/2010 8:17:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Lately there has been a rash of news stories and columns decrying the stupidity of Americans, mostly based on a finding by the Pew Research Center that 18 percent of Americans think that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Predictably, the New York Times joined the pile-on with this column by Timothy Egan: "Building a Nation of Know-Nothings." Egan focuses, however, not on Americans in general, but on Republicans:
That ill-informed woman -- her head stuffed with fabrications that could be disproved by a pre-schooler -- now makes up a representative third or more of the Republican party. It's not just that 46 percent of Republicans believe the lie that Obama is a Muslim, or that 27 percent in the party doubt that the president of the United States is a citizen. But fully half of them believe falsely that the big bailout of banks and insurance companies under TARP was enacted by Obama, and not by President Bush.
So Egan thinks Republicans are dumb. But let's take a closer look. His 46 percent is an unpublished number from a Time magazine survey that is described in a Politico article to which he links. The Pew survey found that 31 percent of Republicans purport to believe Obama is a Muslim. The difference is likely explained by the ways in which the question was framed.
But what about non-Republicans? In the Pew survey, 10 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of independents say Obama is a Muslim. Not only that, a majority of Democrats--51 percent--say either that Obama is a Muslim, or that they don't know what his religion is. Obviously, something is going on here, and it isn't merely that Republicans are stupid.
Egan writes that "fully half of them"--Republicans, evidently--"believe falsely that the big bailout of banks and insurance companies under TARP was enacted by Obama, and not by President Bush." Here, Egan betrays an ignorance of elementary civics that leaves in the dust any confusion that poll respondents may show regarding TARP. Neither President Bush nor President Obama had the power to "enact" legislation. In fact, TARP I was enacted by the Democratic Congress during the last days of the Bush administration. But if a lot of people--Egan doesn't give us the percentage for Democrats or independents--are confused about this, it is probably because the Democratic Congress and the Obama administration devoted the early days of that administration to amending TARP I and implementing TARP II.
Egan now gets to his real point: who is to blame for the appalling stupidity of Republicans?
In the much-discussed Pew poll reporting the spike in ignorance, those who believe Obama to be Muslim say they got their information from the media. But no reputable news agency -- that is, fact-based, one that corrects its errors quickly -- has spread such inaccuracies.
So where is this "media?" Two sources, and they are -- no surprise here -- the usual suspects. The first, of course, is Rush Limbaugh, who claims the largest radio audience in the land among the microphone demagogues, and his word is Biblical among Republicans.
But wait! The Pew folks, if you merely follow Egan's own link, explained, at least in part, what "media" their respondents were talking about:
When asked how they learned about Obama's religion in an open-ended question, 60% of those who say Obama is a Muslim cite the media. Among specific media sources, television (at 16%) is mentioned most frequently. About one-in-ten (11%) of those who say Obama is a Muslim say they learned of this through Obama's own words and behavior.
Guess what: Rush Limbaugh isn't on television. Neither the summary to which Egan links nor the full version of the report contains any further information about the "media" from which respondents got their information, beyond the 16 percent who said "television." So Egan just made up the part about Rush Limbaugh.
Now Egan switches horses and indulges his hatred for Fox News:
Finally, there is Fox News, whose parent company has given $1 million to Republican causes this year but still masquerades as a legitimate source of news. Their chat and opinion programs spread innuendo daily. The founder of Politifact, another nonpartisan referee to the daily rumble, said two of the site's five most popular items on its Truth-o-meter are corrections of Glenn Beck.
Beck tosses off enough half-truths in a month to keep Politifact working overtime. Of late, he has gone after Michelle Obama, whose vacation in Spain was "just for her and approximately 40 of her friends." Limbaugh had a similar line, saying the First Lady "is taking 40 of her best friends and leasing 60 rooms at a five-star hotel -- paid for by you."
But wait! Weren't we talking about Republicans' moronic belief that Obama is a Muslim? Egan can hardly blame that perception on Beck, who says:
Let me quote the president if I may -- "let me be clear" -- President Obama is not a Muslim.
So Egan can't construct a column that makes logical sense, and his editor--I assume he has an editor--doesn't notice. Egan skips around a lot, so it's hard to stay with a single topic in a coherent way. Let's stay with the Muslim thing for now, then go to the Spanish vacation. Egan attacks the Rev. Franklin Graham:
That's not enough, apparently, for Rev. Franklin Graham, the partisan son of the great evangelical leader, who said last week that Obama was "born a Muslim because of the religious seed passed on from his father."
Actually, he was born from two non-practicing parents, and his Kenyan father was absent for all of his upbringing.
It's not clear what Egan's point is. Graham wasn't expressing an opinion on Obama's current spiritual life; on the contrary, he specifically says, "Obama has renounced Islam, and he has accepted Jesus." Graham's point is that under Islamic theology, the son of a Muslim is a Muslim, and to abandon the faith is the worst possible sin, apostasy. That is, as far as I know, an accurate description of Islamic theology. So Egan's point is: what?
Now let's go back to the Spanish vacation, according to Egan another subject of Republican ignorance. He writes:
Of late, [Glenn Beck] has gone after Michelle Obama, whose vacation in Spain was "just for her and approximately 40 of her friends." Limbaugh had a similar line, saying the First Lady "is taking 40 of her best friends and leasing 60 rooms at a five-star hotel -- paid for by you."
The White House said Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha were accompanied by just a few friends -- and they paid their own costs.
But Beck and Limbaugh didn't make up the part about the 40 friends; that was widely reported at the time. The White House's assertion that the Obamas were accompanied by "minimal staff and a small group of family friends" was put out in response to those reports, but the White House never said how many friends or how many staff members accompanied Michelle Obama. What we do know for sure is that the entourage occupied 60 rooms in one of the world's most luxurious resorts. If it is true that only a handful of those rooms were occupied by friends or staff, the rest were taken by security--paid for by you.
Sometimes when liberals get going, they can't stop until they have ridden the last pony. So Egan adds this:
Climate-change denial is a special category all its own. Once on the fringe, dismissal of scientific consensus is now an article of faith among leading Republicans, again taking their cue from Limbaugh and Fox.
This is a subject for another day. For now, suffice it to say that there is no "scientific consensus" on global warming, and when global warming advocates are challenged to debate, they almost always refuse; when they do not refuse, they are crushed. Egan wraps up:
It would be nice to dismiss the stupid things that Americans believe as harmless, the price of having such a large, messy democracy. Plenty of hate-filled partisans swore that Abraham Lincoln was a Catholic and Franklin Roosevelt was a Jew. So what if one-in-five believe the sun revolves around the earth, or aren't sure from which country the United States gained its independence?
But false belief in weapons of mass-destruction led the United States to a trillion-dollar war. And trust in rising home value as a truism as reliable as a sunrise was a major contributor to the catastrophic collapse of the economy. At its worst extreme, a culture of misinformation can produce something like Iran, which is run by a Holocaust denier.
But the "false belief in weapons of mass destruction" was not some sort of popular (let alone Republican) delusion. It was the considered judgment of the CIA and every other intelligence agency, world-wide. As for home values, let's not go there: it was Democrats led by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who pushed policies that turned out to be ruinous, based on the assumption that it could never be a bad thing to make a home loan, no matter how marginally qualified the borrower. And with regard to those Holocaust deniers who run Iran, does Egan actually propose to do something about them? Don't be silly. It is only those dumb Republicans who take seriously the idea that a nuclear Iran could be a threat to our security.
To conclude: are there a lot of dumb Americans? Sure. What else is new? Are there some dumb Republicans? No doubt, but by any objective measure--educational attainment, income, success in life--Republicans are, on the average, smarter than Democrats.
If you want some really stupid poll data, let's take a walk down memory lane and recall that 35 percent of Democrats told pollsters that President Bush was in on the September 11 attacks. Now, that's what I call dumb! And they did it without any help from Rush Limbaugh or Fox News. If there is a glimmer of hope here, it is in the assumption--reasonable, I think--that respondents don't mean everything that they say to pollsters. Being called by a pollster is an opportunity to sound off. Do one-third of all Democrats really believe that President Bush knew about or orchestrated the September 11 attacks? They can't possibly be that dumb, but it was an opportunity to get something off their chests. Likewise, do 31 percent of Republicans really believe that Obama is a Muslim? Probably not, but stating this view to pollsters is a way of expressing frustration with Obama's apology tour, with his feckless "outreach" to Muslim countries that work against our interests, and his general lack of loyalty to the United States of America and its people.
Finally, this: the American people haven't gotten any stupider lately, but there has been a precipitous decline in the competence of those who write for the New York Times. I think it is now safe to say that the average New York Times columnist is not as smart as the average American.
The President of the United States of America in response to a question about U.S. troops in Iraq.
The next time any one talks about how "smart" THIS President is, remind them of the above statement. This man is a disgrace to the Republic.
Why oh why won’t this Timothy Egan just do the Full Monty and just say Americans are stoopid and he’s ashamed to be one?
I looked over the comments on the NYT page and I’m assuming them to be edited as it was exclusively a hangout for lefties to feel superior and commiserate on how disgusting the U.S. of A. is.
The MSM is really determined to flail away at us to the last and go under in proud defiance.
Obama said in an interview that “McCain had never made an issue of my Muslim Faith”. Christy McNichols interjected “You’re Christian Faith” to which Obama quickly agreed, but it was Obama that let it slip. Also, he was born to a Muslim father and an athiest mother and raised by a Muslim stepfather. The first evidence that he attended any Christian Church was when he joined the church of a former Muslim, who still praises Louis Farrakan (sp). He still refuses to go to a Christian Church, even though it would benefit him politically to do so.
I think Obama’s true beliefs are apparent.
When did obama renounce Islam and when did he “accept Jesus Christ”? Saying you’re a Christian is not the same as “accepting Jesus as Lord”.
And since when did the answers in an oppinion poll become right or wrong answers? How can someone “wrongly” believe or have an oppinion that’s “wrong”?
These people amaze me at just how far down they’ll stoop to lick this muslim’s boots.
That would actually be George Stephenopolis
Christy McNichols S/B George (Step-on-all-of-us) or (Snuffleupagus) or (Stephanopoulos) or (dumb ass)
I guess it's possible.
LOL!
Obamao certainly acts more Muslim than Christian, so it’s stupid to criticize people for thinking he is a Muslim. But the bigger question is why it is such a big deal to leftnuts. The “great” religion of Islam is all the rave for them, the same lunatics who champion the Islamic monument to the 9-11 terrorists at Ground Zero. The great savior of leftist idiocy, the PC wonder blunder has turned out to be an Affirmative Action creep, a miserable, lazy, know-nothing free loader who is dragging liberal lunacy into history’s toilet, and the fact challenged dimwits at the NYT have their panties soiled because someone called the bum a Muslim.
Yea the comments there are something else. Talk about inbred. "The country is so stoopid. Beck, Limbaugh and Fox lie. blah blah blah."
These paragons of rationality (who of course thought bush was behind 9/11) never stop to consider how dumb it is to reach conclusions about a populous base on answers to poll questions.
Personally, I don't think Obama is a Muslim. He's a self absorbed secularist that only worships himself and has a strong cultural affection for all things Muslim. But if a pollster asked me if I thought he was a Muslim, I sure the hell would say yes.
It's also funny to see the over stuffed leftist bemoaning the state of education in the country, since they have completely controlled the institution for the last five decades.
The Power Line guys did a great job of ripping this limp wristed, know nothing a new one.
This is what really gets my shorts in a knot. Fin-reg does nothing to even touch Fannie or Freddie, yet they were trigger points to the collapse. Likewise, tort reform wasn't even mentioned in the health care bill as a means of lowering costs because so many of our idiot representatives in Washington are lawyers. 2700+ pages and they never thought to even try to fix this? Come on, people, wake up and kick the bums out.
Timothy Egan
******
NYT's Timothy Egan to 'Grumpy...Cranky...Bitter' Tea Party Movement: Just Die Already
We've been led to believe that the grumpy, the cranky and the bitter will drive the midterm elections in the fall. You would never know, with nightly images of jowly Tea Partiers and their inchoate discontents
******
NYT's Egan: 'Crackpot' Republicans Behind 'Lunatic Magnet' Arizona's 'Crackpot' Immigration Law
But for all its diversity of land and people, Arizona is also a lunatic magnet. As I drove, I listened to the radio blather of a state in mob-rule frenzy of cranky old men. Once in Phoenix, I saw on television that sign in a car's rear window, the new image of Arizona to the rest of the world: "I'm Mexican. Pull me over."
Utterly wrong and arrant nonsense, unless Hindraker excludes The New York Times from his list of "reputable" news agencies. Back in 2008, the Times reported:
"In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith. As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant."
Here's the link: President Apostate?
The point of the article is that, under shari'a, Obama is an apostate Muslim. The article also notes that "as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim."
Whether or not Obama is a Muslim depends upon how you define Muslim.
“That would actually be George Stephenopolis.
Have you ever seen Christy McNichols and George Stephenopolis together in the same room?
Actually, I can't take credit for being the first to call George Stephenopolis Christy McNichols, it was a running joke on a radio talk show I used to listen to back when slick willy was president. Actually they called George an “effeminate Christy McNichols”.
He is probably afraid of going up in a ball of fire when he enters a real Christian church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.