Poll on border security: Joseph Farah thinks elite media fear the American people

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Monday, May 2, 2005 | Joseph Farah

[JohnHuang2]

I'm in the news business, in case you didn't notice.

Every day I pore over hundreds of news stories from dozens of sources.

My staff looks at thousands more from hundreds of sources.

We have access to tools and services that monitor offline information and news reports.

And with all of that information at our disposal, I can tell you with nearly 100 percent certainty that no major polling service in this country has conducted an impartial, scientific survey in the last 45 days on U.S. public opinion about border security and immigration policy.

Is that stunning?

It is to me.

Because this non-interest in what I consider to be the No. 1 national security issue facing our country coincided with the historic and controversial effort of the Minuteman Project to patrol part of the border with Mexico.

Think about that.

How many news stories have been written about the Minuteman Project in the last 45 days? Hundreds? Thousands?

The president of the United States weighed in on the effort – calling the heroic, citizen volunteers "vigilantes." The American Civil Liberties Union sent its own team down to the border to monitor the Minutemen. Politicians in the United States and Mexico warned in near hysterical terms that the effort would lead to violence and recrimination. Editorials were written in the elite publications decrying the project.

Yet, no one bothered to ask the simple question of the American people: What do you think about the Minuteman Project to patrol the southern border and report illegal alien crossings to U.S. authorities?

Was it just an oversight?

Or is it a case of the news media outlets large enough to sponsor polls not wanting to know or report the truth about U.S. public opinion on this subject?

No one in the news media seems to care what the American people think about the Minutemen, about the continuing invasion of our country by millions of illegal aliens, about the threat of terrorists and violent criminals entering our borders along with those seeking jobs, about the costs to our health-care system and our schools, about the increased taxes we pay to care for these people, about escalating crime.

Isn't it amazing that there is so little curiosity by the elite media about an issue that has attracted such visibility in the last 45 days?

In fact, if you watched President Bush's nationally televised press conference last week, you may have noticed that there was not one question asked about illegal immigration, about his proposed amnesty program for illegal aliens, about the Minutemen, about border security or even about national security issues or "homeland security."

Now many Americans discovered long ago that the elite media are out of touch with the concerns of mainstream citizens. But this lack of inquisitiveness has reached new heights on this issue.

I don't know where the elite reporters and editors live that they are unaffected by this issue. I don't know how they can be oblivious to the rising tide of anger welling up inside the American people on this issue. I don't know how they can reconcile such disconnect from reality on this issue.

But I do know we're way past due for a free, lively and open national debate on this issue.

I think the elite media actually fear the American people. I think they don't want to ask the questions because they already know the answers and don't like them. I think they don't commission the surveys because they can't figure out how to skew the polls to get the answers they want.

In other words, the elite media represent a big part of the problem we have in dealing realistically with the borders and protecting our country's vital national security interests.

Do you agree?

[CyberAnt]

"I think the elite media actually fear the American people. I think they don't want to ask the questions because they already know the answers and don't like them. I think they don't commission the surveys because they can't figure out how to skew the polls to get the answers they want."


I don't often agree with Farah, but on this issue I agree 100%.

[stevem]

I don't often agree with Farah, but on this issue I agree 100%.

I don't always agree with Farah. On this issue he is dead center. I have never understood why the elite (media or otherwise) so thoroughly despises the American civilization as it does. Yet when you hate soemthing that much at the same time as you can't control it, it must be terrifying. It must be doubly so when that thing you hate do deeply is a titan and it begins to stir.

[CyberAnt]

I always knew the media didn't trust us to vote correctly, or spend out money correctly .. but I guess I hadn't considered it was because they were afraid of the choices we would make. So it's more than a distrust issue - it's a FEAR issue. This is very interesting.

[SkyPilot]

I have never understood why the elite (media or otherwise) so thoroughly despises the American civilization as it does.

I believe it is because the American culture represents that best (and last) hope of Judeo-Christian civilization--and a humanist, Marxist, liberal, secular leaning media considers this their ultimate enemy.

[backhoe]

For "Thunder on the Border," click this picture:

[Glenn]

you are in the news biz, farah. why don't you pay for a poll?

[goldstategop]

I do agree. The elites in this country, not just the media, are out of touch with average Americans on illegal immigration. The issue won't go away simply because the legacy media doesn't cover it.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[xzins]

Because this non-interest in what I consider to be the No. 1 national security issue facing our country coincided with the historic and controversial effort of the Minuteman Project to patrol part of the border with Mexico.

There are a number of reasons for this, but primarily we must deal with the fact that our borders cover 10,000 miles by one estimate and 54,000 miles by an estimate that includes the in's and out's of shorelines.

My sense is that the US Army's Delta or the Green Berets or the Seals could get into this country even if our entire army were pulled home and put to the job of preventing them from illegally entering.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't favor illegal immigration for economic reasons. I want it stopped. But the stopping of illegal immigration can be done fairly easily. The stopping of a determined, trained, military infiltration team, simply cannot be accomplished.

Besides, we haven't begun to deal with the ease with which folks can legally enter our country. We haven't dealt with the hundreds of thousands of cargo containers that cannot individually be inspected.

The #1 security issue for our nation is DEFEATING THE ENEMY OVERSEAS and putting them permanently out of business.

The president has chosen the right course in this debate, and he should get credit for it. Terrorists are on the run and unable to mount an offensive because there is now no nation that winks at them and lets them go about their business.

[.cnI redruM]

Another part of this issue that doesn't get play is the extent to which our dependence of Mexico's oil cripples our ability to really stiffen our stance on the border. If we put our national guard on the border, Mexico would simply sell that oil to China and India instead and ask us how we enjoyed our $3.75/gallon gasoline. Until we get to the point where our economy no longer relies on petroleum for all of our transport, Mexico has us by the nut sack and they know it.

Part of what really made The Minuteman Project ingenious was the fact that it wasn't an official action of the US government, it was basically a neighborhood watch program conducted by citizens exercising basic constitutional rights. Mexico could gripe, but Tony Garza could only shrug his shoulders, smile sadly and simply chalk it up to citizen activists exercising their right to protest.