Vast Majority of Republicans Polled Get Basic Fact Wrong Yes, Iraq Definitely Had WMD, Vast Majority Of Polled Republicans Insist By Dan Froomkin | HuffPost | 06/21/2012 2:10 pm Excerpts: WASHINGTON How misinformed are Republicans about world affairs? If presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia is "without question our number one geopolitical foe" is any indication, then the answer would appear to be very. A new poll supports that theory. The poll, constructed by Dartmouth government professor Benjamin Valentino and conducted by YouGov from April 26 to May 2, found that fully 63 percent of Republican respondents still believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003. By contrast, 27 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats shared that view. Jim Lobe, chief of the Inter Press Service's Washington bureau, reported the finding in his blog on Wednesday. The Bush administration's insistence that the Iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction and might give them to terrorists was a key selling point in its campaign to take the country to war. It turned out to be untrue. Debate continues over whether former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and other top officials knew there were no WMD, but intentionally deceived the American people and Congress because they were intent on attacking Iraq for less palatable reasons - or whether they managed to convince themselves that it was true using cherry-picked intelligence. There is no reality-based argument that Iraq actually had WMD, after extensive searches found none, but this is hardly the first time many Americans have been certain of something that simply wasn't true. A Washington Post poll in September 2003 found that nearly 70 percent of all Americans were convinced that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks - even though he was not. Bush, Cheney and others consistently linked al Qaeda to Hussein in speeches they gave in the run-up to war, and the media rarely pushed back. But neither Bush nor Cheney continued to claim that there were actual WMDs in Iraq once the searches came up empty - although they both continued to insist that Saddam had the "capability" to produce them. Rather than a failure of the media, therefore, this latest poll result seems to indicate a refusal - unique to the modern Republican Party -to acknowledge facts. According to this poll, an even larger proportion of Republican respondents who said Iraq had WMD - 64 percent - said they have either always believed (or have come to believe) that Barack Obama was born in another country, which he was not. Overall, the poll found Republicans to be considerably more militaristic in their worldview than Democrats and independents. In a finding that would indicate plenty of GOP support for yet another war in the Middle East, nearly two-thirds of Republicans said it's very likely that if Iran produces a nuclear weapon, it would use it against Israel. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...less-vast-majority-republicans_n_1616012.html ....... Well, it looks like the thinking processes of republicans are screwed up in relation to events and stubbornly believing in non-happenings, where other political parties are not as gullible. It makes me wonder if republicans are somehow more persuasive to monotonous buzz words and constant brainwashing to which they succumb more readily than members of other political parties. While I dont believe republicans are basically more stupid than others, I feel there may be a more easily led persona that republicans feel stronger having would lead them to cling to notions that are false to give their lives more meaning that they can easily understand, thus staying within that one perimeter of wrongness for their own emotional well-being. Also, the peculiar militaristic stance taken by republicans must be a Karl Rovian imprint on their psyches as more Germans have historically been warlike in their natures. In any event, republicans get their misguided information from unvetted sources, biased articles, and radical activists. None of these agenda driven sources are doing them much good in searching for the truth, are they....
It is depressing, but evidently a whole lot of the mugs are responding to falling living standards and growing depression by retreating into madness. They'll get over it when forced to eat grass.
Just a minor point of contention - the poll question was: So they may have formed beliefs with limited/no evidence, but I don't think it's accurate to state they got a basic fact wrong. Besides, "no weapons were discovered" is not equivalent to "Iraq did not have weapons". While I'm surprised that so many republicans answered "true" (especially when "don't know" was an option), I think the title of your post is somewhat misleading.
It's come out in recent years that the US government has known that the german intelliogence used to claim that there were WMD's was false. It was sent to us before Bush even took office and Clinton never took it seriously because the Germans said they made a mistake. Bush knew ahead of time that it was false and used it anyway.
When they were fighting for the Americans against Iran all that was fine, obviously. You some kind of Ayatollah-lover or sumpin?
I was responding to the thread topic. And yes....when they were fightin the Iranians they were fighting the bad guys. When they started using WMD, they became war criminals. So, to reiterate, Iraq had wmd, and used them twice that we know of.
As you know, Bush (and Bliar) were lying war criminals and should be hanged. The Republican nutters need de-nazification.
So your position is that Saddam DIDN'T gas the Kurds. Got it. Also the reports of the Iraqi army gassing the Iranian army also didn't happen.......OK. Got more dogma?
No - the US was all for gassing the Kurds until they weren't, and if the US could have got the zionist nazis to gas the Iranians, that would have been okay too. You worship your particular colonialist killers: I don't. Stop goebbelsing, lad - it is tedious.
to paint this misinformation as being unique to the republicans is rather dishonest but i assume you thought your agenda was undetectable. the democrats perpetuated the lie just as effectively as the republicans did. [video=youtube;iSwSDvgw5Uc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSwSDvgw5Uc&feature=related[/video]
" One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." --President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." --President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 "Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." --Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998 "He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." --Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 "[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by: -- Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998 "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 "Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." -- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 "There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by: -- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001 "We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them." -- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." -- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 . Thanks Mr Grokmaster for the quotes.
That's seems to have shot down that whole poll...imo I find it interesting that the Democrats didn't believe what their Ideological champions had to say. Yet a Republican, was hearing both, Democrats and Republicans saying the same thing, and still believe that there was a danger to their country. Wow, that reminds me of a picture
