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August 03, 2009
How the original Kenyan birth certificate came to be destroyed in the Twin Towers
I can't stop thinking about a statistic I read in a piece by Jennifer Rubin that Glenn Reynolds linked yesterday, that a full six percent of Americans believe Barack Obama is a conservative. Where are these people, and how come I never get to meet them? According to many statisticians, six percent is a higher figure than the percentage of Americans who are gay, which means that statistically, the average American is more likely to believe that Obama is conservative than to be gay. I don't like those numbers. Of course, there may be some overlap. Andrew Sullivan, for example, is a gay man who claims to be a conservative, and if his views constitute his meaning of conservatism, then perhaps he can be counted among those who believe Obama is a conservative. But why should I worry? According to another statistic, 63% of American voters subscribe to beliefs that I and others in the minority consider to be unreasonable -- if not insane: Fully 35 percent of Democrats believe George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Fully 28 percent of Republicans believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.This goes a long way towards explaining the accelerated rhetorical framework which Phil Bowermaster outlined: The rise of the blogosphere and sites like Daily Kos and Free Republic have established a new "accelerated" rhetorical framework for politics which now seems to be more or less universally applied. The basic assumption behind the framework is that there is Our Group and then there is the Other. Any ideas from the Other are subjected to a three-step analysis and response:I'm a reasonable person and I believe in compromise, but is there a middle way between Bush flying fake planes into the Twin Towers and Barack Obama's covered up Kenyan birth certificate? Hmmm... Maybe there doesn't need to be. Isn't Obama continuing the Bush coverup? And isn't Bush ratifying the Kenyan birth certificate coverup by saying nothing? Things are starting to make sense now. MORE: In other developments, Mark Steyn discusses a new trend: ...why not blame Bush for the horrors of the Obama presidency?They've obviously been in cahoots all along. It's the New World Order, doncha know? The crazy ones are the people like me, who still cling to denial and refuse to believe. MORE: Commenter Clint makes an important (and reassuring) point: ..35% of Democrats + 28% of Republicans does not equal 63% of the voting population.I hope the independents don't share the above views in similar proportions to the party members. Does anyone know? posted by Eric on 08.03.09 at 12:28 PM
Comments
Thanks, you're probably right! The independents might not be as crazy as the rest. Eric Scheie · August 3, 2009 12:50 PM I'm not surprised 6% believe Obama is conservative, considering so many opine thate the professional news media are also overwhelmingly conservative. Brett · August 3, 2009 12:59 PM I'm always stuck on the stat I read once (no idea where I read it) that 75% of Americans don't know how many stars there are on the American flag. They often guess "52.: The researchers found that some people associated the number with the number of cards in a deck, or they thought that there were 50, and Hawaii and Alaska were 2 more, making 52. A large percentage of people don't know that the number of stars equate to the number of states. After reading that stat, I'll believe anything... never underestimating the stupidity of the American people. But those are what I call "Trivial Pursuit" facts, and it doesn't really have anything to do with anything really important. Someone can be ignorant of Trivial Pursuit facts and still manage to live a decent life. That doesn't mean I think that people should be disenfranchised for being ignorant, but it does say something about the future of our republic if they get such basic information wrong. It is because of these sorts of stats that I often daydream about a benevolent dictator or aristocracy. It may not be better, but I doubt it could be worse. It's the making sure it remains benevolent that is the tricky bit. Hence guns/Second Amendment. Mrs. du Toit · August 3, 2009 01:26 PM You will generally get at least 20-28% of respondents saying "yes" to almost anything. The survey, which has a sampling error of plus or minus two percent, found that 35 percent of the respondents believed in UFOs and 31 percent in witches. So fewer people think Obama is a conservative than believe in witches or UFOs. I find that more reassuring than I probably ought to. For political stuff, it's usually between 23%-28% for the fringe stuff. Which begs the question that they are fringe. Veeshir · August 3, 2009 01:54 PM If you are a hard core communist then Obama will appear 'conservative'. This is a trick the media have been pulling for a long time. 'Middle of the road' means what average liberal opinion desires - between the two 'extremes' i.e. the Repubs and the Commies. takethat · August 3, 2009 02:59 PM I find it hard to believe anyone can honestly believe him to be 'conservative'. Even the blindest of the lefties should be able to catch on to his trickery by now. A great source in more information that I have found is: www.ericacarle.com. Its the site of a published author who offers great insight into all of these issues. LJB · August 3, 2009 03:51 PM I hadn't really processed your headline before, bravo. Have you heard of Blair's Law? the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force." Veeshir · August 3, 2009 05:30 PM I don't believe in witches I've actually seen them. Crista Landon used to be a friend of mine. M. Simon · August 3, 2009 11:37 PM Post a comment
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Far be it from me to disagree with the notion that huge portions of the population believe incredibly strange things. (How many people believe in witchcraft? UFO's? Astrology? an unbiased media?)
But, you've got a math problem.
35% of Democrats + 28% of Republicans does not equal 63% of the voting population.
Depending on the numbers you use for party ID, it's probably less than 20% of the population.