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Fox News Poll: Do You Have A Neighbor Who Says Obama "Scares Them"?

Hmmm. It looks like Fox News is asking some rather loaded questions in its latest poll:

Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors say there is something about Barack Obama that scares them?
Yes 49%
No 50%

Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors say there is something about John McCain that scares them?
Yes 36%
No 62%

Some people believe Barack Obama, despite his professed Christianity, is secretly a Muslim. Others say that is just a rumor and Obama really is a Christian as he says, and point out he's attended a Christian church for years. What do you believe -- is Obama a Muslim or a Christian?
Muslim 10%
Christian 57%

John McCain was held captive for five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Do you think that experience would make McCain a better president or a worse president?
Better 49%
Worse 11%
No Difference (voluntary) 33%

Do you think Barack Obama's trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East is better described as a fact-finding trip or as a campaign event?
Fact-finding 19%
Campaign event 47%
Both (voluntary) 25%


86 Comments

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Push polling . . . on a national level. And they wonder why Chris Wallace didn't get an invite.

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It's not really push polling. From pollster.com:

Many organizations have posted definitions (AAPOR, NCPP, CMOR, CBS News, Campaigns and Elections, Wikipedia), but the important thing to remember is that a "push poll" is not a poll at all. It's a fraud, an attempt to disseminate information under the guise of a legitimate survey. The proof is in the intent of the person doing it.

To understand what I mean, imagine for a moment that you are an ethically challenged political operative ready to play the hardest of hardball. Perhaps you want to spread an untruth about an opponent or "rumor" so salacious or farfetched that you dare not spread it yourself (such as the classic lie about John McCain's supposed "illegitimate black child"). Or perhaps your opponent has taken a "moderate" position consistent with that of your boss, but likely to inflame the opponent's base (such as Republican voting to raise taxes or a Democrat supporting "Bush's wiretapping program").

You want to spread the rumor or exploit the issue without leaving fingerprints. So you hire a telemarketer to make phone calls that pretend to be a political poll. You "ask" only a question or two aimed at spreading the rumor (example: "would you be more or less likely to support John McCain if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate child who was black?"). You want to make as many calls as quickly as possible, so you do not bother with the time consuming tasks performed by most real pollsters, such as asking a lot of questions or asking to speak to a specific or random individual within the household.

Again, the proof is in the intent: If the sponsor intends to communicate a message to as many voters as possible rather than measure opinions or test messages among a sample of voters, it qualifies as a "push poll."

We can usually identify a true push poll by a few characteristics that serve as evidence of that intent. "Push pollsters" (and MP hates that term) aim to reach as many voters as possible, so they typically make tens or even hundreds of thousands of calls. Real surveys usually attempt to interview only a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand respondents (though not always). Push polls typically ask just a question or two, while real surveys are almost always much longer and typically conclude with demographic questions about the respondent (such as age, race, education, income). The information presented in a true push poll is usually false or highly distorted, but not always. A call made for the purposes of disseminating information under the guise of survey is still a fraud - and thus still a "push poll" - even if the facts of the "questions" are technically true or defensible.

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/so_what_is_a_push_poll.php

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Here's a question I'd like to have them ask:

Have you heard any of your friends and neighbors WHO WATCH FOX NEWS 24-7 say there is something about Barack Obama that scares them?

Yes 100%
No 0%

Of course it's a push-poll, Ohio. It's just a push-poll embedded within a broader "legit" poll to A) allow Fox to push-poll while claiming otherwise--what you (sorry) just fell for--and B) to contaminate the "legit" poll and push respondents toward the mean, trashy Republicon sort of opinions Fox is looking for.

It sounds like you did not read the questions. They clearly "push" ideas like "scary Black man" etc.

At least some balance is necessary: Does that huge growth on the side of McCain's face freak you out?

Are you concerned that after years spent tortured while a POW and may still suffer from PTSD?

Can McCain, who broke under torture and make anti-American statements, fulfill the duties of a Comander-in-Chief?

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i think this is what's commonly called a "push poll".

Ignore Fox. Their audience is lost anyway. If you want to see a push poll, see the New Republic article on press dissatisfaction with Obama.

Q: As a reporter are you:

A. Satisfied Obama recognizes he is where he is because of you?

B. Disatisfied because Obama's people want to keep him on schedule so you don't write articles about how is is late like Bill Clinton?

C. More the subject of a Carly Simon Song than you care to realize.

The TNR article proves my slogan:

American Media: Incompetents feeding Stool Softener to the Incontinent.

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When exactly is Fox News going to fall under the regulation of the FEC?

Really, I'm not kidding. They are a wing of the Republican party, they should be treated as such.

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I agree. They are such naked advocates of the GOP agenda, and adopt many of the party's most abhorrent strategies in their "news coverage".

And no, you can't go after MSNBC the same way. They have a few shows in which hosts espouse opinions, but they're ACTUALLY fair and balanced (three hours of "Morning Joe" cancels out Olbermann and Abrams). Fox is a sickness, and I really hope someone in Obama's future administration has the balls to cut the legs out from underneath what has become more of an homage to Soviet propaganda than any Olbermann special comment or show - as the Right would have us believe.

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More of that wonderful Fox "if there's a question mark after it, it's not offensive" News push-polling.

"Do you think that Fox News promotes both racism and xenophobia in their hamfistedly clumsy polls?"

No 10%
Fuck Yeah 85%
Dude, what are you doing looking at Fox polss anyway? 5%

LOL!!!

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You beat me to it. Eric, I know you are addicted to polls, but dude...

when Obama wins he needs to institute the fairness doctrine..

better yet just shut down talk radio and Faux News and CNN's right winger Beck etc.

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He already has said he won't reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine because he sees constitutional problems with it and I do too, frankly.

It's a prior restraint.

And where at one time I really wanted to see it come back - it's impossible with as many outlets as there are now to police it or even to set the policy so that it makes sense. We get foreign stations, foreign language stations - what do they do about all the different kind of cable? How to they make sure the thing is followed?

It's impossible to enforce it now. It really is.

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Not all speech is protected. Pornography, for instance, is subject to regulation. Under the law, pornography is speech that titillates the purient interests, creating an itching or longing. (from memory). Or as another Supreme Court Justice is reported to have said, I don't know how to describe it, but I know pornography when I see it.

In the instance of Limbaugh, I think we have political pornography, intended to titillate the prurient political interest away from socially constructive view towards civics and the public interest.

The standard review for laws regulating a fundamental right is strict scrutiny: The law will be upheld if it is necessary for a compelling governmental interest.

I can see this as a compelling interest of government, that discussions on civics and the public interests not be knowingly disseminated to confuse and provoke the public. This republic has a right to self preservation, and at the rate its going...

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You can certainly make that argument, love, but the Fairness Doctrine wouldn't necessarily shut Rush up - the stations would just have to have a nice token liberal to give equal time to - you know like Colmes. Do we need any more Colmes? I don't think so.

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Actually I wasn't making a case for the return of the fairness doctrine. I was trying to make the case for a new standard. Call it an anti-political pornography law, to promote civil and informed discussion about important civil issues and the public interest.

If Fox push poles a question like, "would you vote for Obama if he broke into your neighbor's house and raped his white daughter?" That's a kind of pol-porn and I think it is both obscene and offensive and deconstructive towards a civil debate on civil affairs, which is so vitally important to the public.

Tin wrote:

Not all speech is protected. Pornography, for instance, is subject to regulation. Under the law, pornography is speech that titillates the purient interests, creating an itching or longing. (from memory). Or as another Supreme Court Justice is reported to have said, I don't know how to describe it, but I know pornography when I see it.

No. "Pornography" is a term with no legal definition. Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. In Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), SCOTUS defined "obscenity" as a work, when taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest, shows "patently offensive sexual conduct," and completely lacks "serious artistic, literary, political, or scientific value," according to contemporary community standards.

Justice Potter Stewart made the statement "I have reached the conclusion, โ€ฆ that under the First and Fourteenth Amendments criminal laws in this area are constitutionally limited to hard-core pornography. [footnote omitted] I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it โ€ฆ"
[Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)]

The Fairness Doctrine is harldy prior restraint (look up the law!). The main problem with enforcing the fairness doctrine is that the government cannot claim that band widths are restricted; access is universal these days. Our philosophy of allowing citizens to choose means we are stuck with toxic and mendacious outlets.

the government cannot claim that band widths are restricted; access is universal these days

Government can claim anything that they want but the airwaves are restricted as well as access. If they've restricted those they can restrict bandwidths - which is not the medium that Fox uses to spew its racist hate anyway...for the most part.

If anyone here ever thought that all American people truly have a voice I would ask them to think back to the last Dem debate on ABC.

Good Lord. I hope CNN is taking notes. I fully expect them to have loaded questions like this in about two years or less. They're close, they just do not quite have the masterful strokes of conservatism, deception, and untruths that Fox
does in everything it puts out.

Though having Glenn Beck cover Larry King on CNN while Glenn Beck's show is on headline news at the same time the other day just about made me throw-up. I didn't watch. Just channel surfing by in itself induced nausea.

--You had to volunteer No Difference on the POW question!?!?!?! C'mon!

Agreed. Lou Dobbs makes me want to scream. Even with the sound off.

you saved yourself a TV. Beck's offensiveness isn't even that's he's such an obvious right-wing troll on the national stage, it's that he's so unbelievably idiotic. while filling in for Larry King he included Abraham Lincoln in the category of "Presidents that were bad public speakers", and looked shocked when someone corrected him.

i'm wondering what CNN thinks they are gaining from having him on the air?

Just so they can say they are "Fair and Balanced" like Faux News. I was channel surfing too when I saw that segment. Why include Ben Stein on the panel? McCain might know more about the economy than he does. After his recent movie denying evolution, will they now include him on science panels too to be fair and balanced?

Garbage in, garbage out.

A Fox/Opinion Dynamics poll asking loaded questions? Pish-posh. Who ever heard of such a thing?

What does "(voluntary)" mean on the poll results?

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just a guess, but it could be that the respondants "volunteered" those answers. they were'nt given as options by the poller.

Is Fox News a hardhitting news oragnization or a TV show for the politically stupid?

NEWS Orangization- 3%
Political Stupid Show - 87%
Duh? - 10%

This is another illustration of why this campaign isn't going to be the cakewalk it might seem if you just looked at the zeitgeist and compared the talent of the candidates. The Republicans friggin' own the most watched cable news network, headed by a skilled R campaign guy, and they run the network like a perpetual negative campaign ad against the Democrats. Add a hundred million or so to McCain's campaign warchest to reflect that advantage. I really think Obama was on smarter ground refusing to talk to them, refusing to treat them like a legitimate media outlet.

No shame.

I know, and this is honestly the most troubling part.

At least he's not a Muslim anymore.

I'm sure they'll find a way to spin it so he is.

So far as we know.

Recall that Imbecile in a flight suit with his "Mission Accomplished" stupidity:

John McCain is now becoming that guy, with his "Surge has worked" declarations.

Now he is going to be exposed for being the same type of presumptive fool that his hugging pal Shrub was.

The enemy is adjusting. Watch for things to get worse, once again in Iraq. Here is something that just happened today:

updated 50 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber killed at least eight people Thursday night at a checkpoint manned by U.S.-allied Sunni guards northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The woman blew herself up near a checkpoint in central Baqouba, a police officer said.

At least eight guards were killed and 24 other people were wounded, according to the officer.

Well....I always wondered what the show "Hee Haw" would look like when it grew up.

hehe......

"Laugh In" became - CNN

and, The "Smothers Brothers Show" became.......

dum, dum, dum, duuuummmmmm.......

MSNBC!

ba, dump, bump

A- Racist (1%)
B- Dumb Troll (1%)
C- Both Racist and Dumb Republican Troll (97.7%)
D- None of the Above (0.3%?)

Numbers four and five make me depressed.

.Some people say Fox news is a racist network other say it's just a dumb republican troll, what do you think about Fox News?

A- Racist (1%)
B- Dumb Troll (1%)
C- Both Racist and Dumb Republican Troll (97.7%)
D- None of the Above (0.3%?)

nice

Wow! That poll is just awful. Fox has no shame.

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I did get a get out of the response to the Muslim question:

Muslim 10%
Christian 57%

By my calculations, that means that 33% of the respondents think Obama is something other than a Christian or Muslim. Hmmmm...maybe he's a Buddhist??

That is just disgracefully bad. A new low.

This is called a "push poll"

Shame on Fox. Oh I forgot, they have no shame.

If Obama came into your house and raped and murdered your children, how would you feel? Good? Bad? Unsure?

I guess I'm surprised that only 50% of fox viewers are scared of Obama.

If I had a nickel for every mistaken assumption in your post, I'd have maybe 15 cents. Reading comprehension, please.

Argh, 49%

And I get that the question asks about friends and neighbors, but I think that's cover for the pollee to answer about him or herself.

One of the assumptions of your post is that this poll was limited to "fox viewers". It wasn't. This was a nationally run push poll.

When was the last time Barack Obama beat his wife? Today - Yesterday - Don't Recall

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Does anyone know if this is the same 7/24 Fox poll that gives Obama a 41-40 lead over McShame? If so, the outcome is pretty impressive considering the calculated set-up.

Couldn't you have at least waited for the ink to dry on Obama's historic speech before you started in with the doom and gloom of FOX polls? What's next, things Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck agree on?

This is rather telling:

John McCain was held captive for five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Do you think that experience would make McCain a better president or a worse president?
Better 49%
Worse 11%
No Difference (voluntary) 33%

1. Since when does yes/no/maybe add up to 93%?
2. Pushing the other 7% to the 'maybe' column, it appears that a majority of Americans believe Gen. Clark was correct in asking how getting shot down and captured qualified someone to be President.

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Speaking of Clark, did anyone else see him on Morning Joe? I couldn't believe that these cretins had the nerve to invite him on after the way the mockingly giggled and called Clark crazy/unhinged for questioning McCain's experience. To his credit, Clark treated them respectfully -- a far cry better then where I would've told them to stick it.

My favorite result from this poll was when asked for their favorability ratings for different people and institutions, 1% of the poll's respondents said that they had never heard of the "Republican Party".

I knew that their name brand was in the mud, but that's just sad.

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Another FOX question: Do you favor that young nigrah boy or the seasoned white war hero for president?

This is outrageous. I notice Rasmussen often asks loaded "value" questions too, skewed to sow doubt about Barack Obama. Then that Newsweek poll asking if he flip flops. Shouldn't there be a law against this?

Shouldn't there be a law against this?

A - yes, but applies only to democrats
B - no, but only when we do it
C - he'll rape your daughter and raise your taxes

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John McCain seems to have problems with telling what happened where and when (often he seems to be lost in both space and time).

Do you think this is do to...

1. His age and the onset of dimmensia? 2%

2. His watching too much Fox News? 2%

3. He was always this dumb? 3%

4. All of the above? 88%

His being held as a prisoner of war? 5%


Do you think his being lost as to space and time (history and geography) keeps him from being able to use a P.C.

1 Yes...40%

2 No....27%

3 Being dumb in technology is totally different than being dumb as to history and geography...23%

Do you Do you think his being lost as to space and time (history and geography) disqualifies him for being president?

1 Yes...63%

2 No...27%

Do you get most of your news from watching Fox news?

1 Yes...27%

2 No... 63%

Do you have a favorable impression of the job George Bush is doing as president?

1 Yes...27%

2 No...63%

Do you
1 love animals but hate people 27%
2 love animals and love people 40%
3 hate animals but love people 23

Some say John McCain is a great American hero. Others say he is The Greatest American Ever (next to GW Bush, of course).

Which do you believe - great American hero, or The Greatest American Ever?

a) great American hero
b) The Greatest American Ever
c) repeal the 22nd Amendment and have Bush run for a third term

The strategy is actually rather brilliant.

Years of naval grazing have led to the notion that polls are "news".

So now you can almost write your story around whatever "news" you like -- in this case a push poll.

FNC can now lead off their news hour with "Nearly half of Americans polled claim that their friends and neighbors are scared of Barack." I think this "story" will run for weeks.

One culture takes one more step down into decadence...

Next step: why even bother taking the polls themselves? Why not just make up numbers? Perhaps someone will at least hold Fox to disclose their sampling techniques, etc.

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Years of naval grazing have led to the notion that polls are "news".

"Naval grazing"? Ewwwww...

"Naval grazing? Is that a Kausflies joke?

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Definitely a push poll.

I don't trust this FOX NEWS poll at all.

Fox is such a joke but the biggest suckers are the dolts who watch it somehow thinking they are getting the straight dope. In reality, they are the biggest marks around and Fox knows this so they give their audience of crotchety bitter old white men all the blood they want. After all, there isn't any real news on Fox, just opinion and banter that they like to call 'news analysis'.


Murdoch runs his teevee channel the same way he runs the NY Post, as a cheap tabloid for the dumbest segment of the population.

John McCain was held captive for five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Do you think that experience would make McCain a better president or a worse president?

how interesting that the question only offered the two choices. notice in the response the 'no difference' is tagged as 'voluntary'.

man. someone ought to forward this to a professional pollster to get a reaction to how atrocious this is.

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A troll poll, so to speak.

A possible future "question" from a Fox push..I mean Fox Poll:

"Since Obama was educated at a Muslim Madrassa in Indonesia, do you think his Christianity is authentic?"

Yep! That sounds just like a Fox News Gretchen Carlson (R-Right-wing Slut when working at TV station in Virginia) question!

And I should add that I believe ALL cable news networks are pretty much the same these days, just dog and pony shows. It's entertainment, not news. There's really no difference between the E Channel and CNN anymore.

Remember when Anna Nicole Smith died? It was three days straight of non-stop coverage from every single one of them, fox, msn, cnn. It was really important news I suppose. And that's just one example. Every other week, Fox finds some missing blonde woman, and Nancy Grace gets upset at some ex-cop with dead wives.

All trash 24-7.

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...The FEC is now just another tool for Republican Propaganda as well.

...don't look to them for anything so un-American as fairness.

FOX is not a seditionist organization,...as far as I know!

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FoxPush Poll Questions that almost made the list:

Are people who only watch and believe Fox News more american than people who don't?

Are people who don't wear lapel pins fit to be president?

Are democrats fit to be president when they eat steamed vegetables with white sauce like endives along with a common salad plant called arrugola, found on pizza in most pizzerias in Europe?

The Main Page Headline for this article:

"Fox Poll: Has Obama Ever Practiced Islam?"

Actually, the poll questions don't ask whether he has ever practiced Islam, do they? In fact, the words "Islam," "practice," and "practicing" do not appear in the poll. Here is the link to the poll itself.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/FoxPoll.pdf

Why the difference in emphasis? It's not as if you need to stealthily mischaracterize FOX polls. They're bad enough on their face. If you object to "loaded questions from FOX, don't load your headlines.

Of course it's a push-poll. It's just a push-poll embedded within a broader "legit" poll to A) allow FOX to push-poll while claiming otherwise (what you just (sorry) fell for) and B) contaminate the "legit" poll and push respondents toward the mean, trashy (Republiconservative) sort of opinion FOX is looking for.

I took the liberty of quoting Eric and adding additional data.

http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/with-friends-like-fox-who-needs-enemas/

Check it out if you're interested.

Thanks, Eric!!

Here are a few other push poll questions...from the DNC. Received this unfortunate little mailer the other day and was sorry to see, yet again, that they all do the same shit.

"2008 Presidential Campaign Survey" prepared for me with a special "registration number"

Question 5:
Question: Do you believe that John McCain's pledge to keep troops in Iraq for another 100 years will be a liability in the General Election?

Question 11:
How likely do you think John McCain and his Republican allies will launch a "Swift Boat" style smear campaign against our presidential nominee?

Question 12:
How concerned are you that Republican voter suppression schemes will disenfranchis and impact the outcome of the presidential race?

Why?
There really is no need to stoop to this level...very disappointing.

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If you can't tell the difference between FOX news and the DNC, you have mental issues.
Apples and Oranges anyone? The DNC is supposed to be partisan. The FOX is supposed to be objective.

FOX News is America's shame. A walking talking smear on the nation.

This list of comments is hilarious...you all complain about inaccurracy and unfair reporting, but as long as your candidate is always presented favorably, no matter the implausibilities , misspeaks, inconsistencies...that, of course, is well and good, just don't dare scrutinize my Oblabba the Saviour.
Half the "stats" and info you all pass along and share with each other is preaching to the choir among already admitted supporters.

Heaven forbid you get a Chicagoan's perspective of the Chicago Machine and Axelrod's political culture of sleaze from which murky swamps was born the one you call messiah...

Axelrod is quite happy Fox DOESN'T do real reporting on his prize pony show...that's why he's a regular on their Sunday morning fluff pieces.
The onion has so far done the best article on the cushions the media provides for every Obama step (and misstep).

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How do you push back against push polls? Obviously, imitating the tactic would be equally unsavory, but how do you fight back against something so insidious?

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"This list of comments is hilarious...you all complain about inaccurracy and unfair reporting, but as long as your candidate is always presented favorably, no matter the implausibilities , misspeaks, inconsistencies...that, of course, is well and good, just don't dare scrutinize my Oblabba the Saviour."

What's truly hilarious is your sad, off-topic attempt to slander and the flimsy strawmen you desperately fling about in a pathetic little pugilistic dance. We're discussing the not-so-subtle rumor-mongering of the "Obama is a Muslim" slur by a self-declared "news" media, none of which has anything to do with your own equally scurrilous pushing of "Obama is corrupt" vilification or efforts to throw about insults and ad hominems. I mean, are you too lazy to start your own thread???

No mental issues here, but thanks for the thoughtful reply. Let me try again...Everybody knows Fox is partisan. Everybody. Unfortunately they are still treated like a news organization. And of course the DNC is partisan (DNC)...the point is that sending out mailers to primarily their own people with push poll style questions among questions about ranking the issues for the platform is insulting. As insulting coming from them as it is coming from an RNC poll. It is just another sad reminder of how low the dialog has sunk. I guess nothing a dose of prozac can't fix.

I've seen worse. Expect these later:

"If you were told that BO was secretly a Muslim extremist working for Osama Bin Laden, would you be more or less likely to vote for him?"

"If I told you that BO will require affirmative action at all jobs and universities, would that change your opinion of him?"

"If BO were actually a zombie who eats fetuses, would you... "

Never mind.

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