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Bush and Kerry Supporters Have Separate Realities

corngrower writes "A report by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland correlates voters' perceptions of world attitudes and events with their choice in candidates. It's an interesting read, and shows voters supporting Kerry as being more in tune with the events and world attitudes surrounding the war in Iraq."

6 of 698 comments (clear)

  1. A very similar study regarding Fox News watchers by quantax · · Score: 5, Informative

    This reminded me of another report done by the same group regarding misperceptions people had based upon their source of news, most notibly Fox News:

    "The polling, conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks, also reveals that the frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly according to individuals' primary source of news. Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions, while those who primarily listen to NPR or watch PBS are significantly less likely."

    Source: http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/100403F.shtml

    The original source document (PDF):
    http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/Media_10_02 _03_Press.pdf

    While these reports should not be correlated without further study, its rather indicative of how the public is misinformed by certain parts of the media; though I will admit that it does swing both ways for both liberals and conservatives, but Fox takes it to another level when it comes to TV news.

    --
    "What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
  2. Re:Here we go again... by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Informative
    I hardly think of the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and etc. as bastions of liberal ideology.

    Good grief! If the Ford Foundation isn't liberal in your opinion, then what is?

    According to the recent grants list on their website, they've recently donated to:

    • The ACLU
    • Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Educational Fund
    • The Population Council, Inc
    • Feminist Majority Foundation
    • International Planned Parenthood Federation
    • etc., etc., etc.

    Regardless of your opinions of those groups, you have to agree that no conservative foundation would ever be likely to donate money to them.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  3. Re:Here we go again... by seasleepy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not all of the questions are available yet, but many of them are in this PDF on their site.

  4. Re:Nice Story! by gedanken · · Score: 4, Informative

    The PM of japan has since retracted his support of Bush.

  5. Not just Iran -- al Qaeda too! by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Informative
    In fact, Al Qaeda has endorsed Bush for president. For those who can't be bothered to read through the article, here's the relevant quotation. It comes from a threat published in Al-Quds al-Arabi by members of the al Qaeda affiliate organization the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, as reported in the New Yorker:
    "We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections," the authors write. Bush's "idiocy and religious fanaticism" are useful, the authors contend, for they stir the Islamic world to action.
    (I heard an interviewee on NPR translate the entire relevant paragraph from al-Quds, and it is even more chilling than the above reporter's quotations reveal. I can't find the transcript of the interview, however.)

    It absolutely amazes me that the Kerry campaign is not using this to promote their candidate. Kerry has all but conceded major ground to Bush by not explaining that it is Bush who is the far more palatable candidate for terrorists, because it is the Bush Administration which has done more than any previous U.S. Administration to encourage and facilitate the spread of international terrorism. And the terrorists know it.

    On a lighter note, here's another Bush endorsement that we might want to be concerned with.

  6. Re:Nice Story! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Informative
    This article can be found on the web at
    http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=fa cts

    100 Facts and 1 Opinion

    by JUDD LEGUM

    [from the November 8, 2004 issue]

    Click here to download, circulate and distribute a PDF version of this article.

    IRAQ

    1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war of choice in Iraq.

    Source: American Progress

    2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate body armor or armored Humvees.

    Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe

    3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.

    Source: PBS

    4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" in Iraq.

    Source: The Washington Post

    5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.

    Source: globalsecurity.org

    6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.

    Source: Yahoo News

    7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda.

    Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission

    8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other purposes.

    Source: New York Times

    9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4 billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.

    Source: USA Today

    10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Sa

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."