wtf? "Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD"?!

[leftchick]

incredible..... :banghead:

<snip>

Aug 6, 2006 (AP)— Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"?

Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003?

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

<snip>

"I'm flabbergasted," said Michael Massing, a media critic whose writings dissected the largely unquestioning U.S. news reporting on the Bush administration's shaky WMD claims in 2002-03.

"This finding just has to cause despair among those of us who hope for an informed public able to draw reasonable conclusions based on evidence," Massing said.



http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2279553

[MadHound]

1. Half of Americans are dumber than a stump

And sadly, twice as gullible. And this is the demographic that the GOP caters to. No wonder we're in such deep shit.

[htuttle]

6. "You know how dumb the Average American is?"

"Don't forget that half of them are even dumber than THAT!"

(in quotes, because I heard somebody say this once, but can't remember who...too dumb, I guess...)

[louis-t]

2. Santorum, Hoekstra rant has a lot to do with this.

Instead of causing the 2 Repug nitwits to be run out of office in shame, they will most likely get freedom medals. For lying.

[LSK]

3. but but but Rush said they were trucked to Syria....

Idiots!

[Kutjara]

4. As Mencken said:

"Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. It was a lower percentage a few months ago --

then they dug up a few 1980 era surplus shells that were buried near the front lines of the Iran/Iraq war zone and the GOP trumpetted their "I told you so!" -- never mind that they could not be used today - too degraded after being buried for 18 years. But Santorum et al pushed it and the punditz picked it up, and that was the only voice heard by most of the sheeple.

So dispiriting.

[onehandle]

7. Americans think as Fox News demands.

Shut-Up and watch American Idol!

[MikeDuffy]

8. Anyone know of a good "current events" test (w/ correct answers)

that I could give to people to show clearly that they are being misinformed by MSM? (Another recent post linked to t-shirts, etc saying "I could have been a Republican, but I scored too high on the test" made me think that a good "the test" might be very useful.)

[rock]

9. Is this not a statement about the media

Whose job is to keep the public informed? (I.e. they've done a really crappy job, unless that is exactly what they wanted to do.)

[Rude Horner]

21. That's EXACTLY what it is...

the administration and the repubs can make any misleading statements they want, but it's the media's job to inform the American people of the truth. And at that, they fail miserably. What I wouldn't give for some of them to grow a spine.

[Robbien]

10. Some of this vote is guilt, they don't want to believe we invaded

a country for nothing.

[helderheid]

11. Hmmmm... wonder why they think that. Corporate Controlled Media anyone?

[hashibabba]

12. They check their brains at the door.

I see it more and more often these days. People listen to a little bit of what is said (by the MSM no doubt), and take it as fact. Nobody likes to think for themselves any more. Nobody cares enough to dig a little bit for the TRUTH!

Its very sad. I have a lot of conservative friends for some reason, and there is no getting through to them. I love it when they send me political stuff so I can throw it in their faces and tell them what's REALLY going on. No, I haven't converted anyone lately.

[helderheid]

13. Well, I will be the first to admit that I didn't know my TeeVee was lying

to me until I got involved in politics (Kucinich's campaign). I trusted what was on CNN and had NO CLUE.

[chelsea0011]

14. neva unda estamate the inteligence of the aMerikan pepal

[Caution]

15. Doesn't surprise me at all.

Look at how many people believe in "chemtrails"

[Stevendsmith]

16. It's so much easier to just believe the lies. Fucking idiots. (n/t)

[sendero]

17. It goes beyond being "dumb"...

... the media and politicians who manipulate public opinion have figured something out. PEOPLE ARE RECEPTIVE TO BELIEVING WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.

That is the only reason Fox et al get away with the blatant pure D bullshit they air all the time. Because people would rather hear a lie that makes America look/feel good than the truth that makes us feel bad. Of course, it's like when Paris Hilton says "you're hot". She's snickering under her breath, you're not getting any of that action, it's a lie.

However, this doesn't work forever, and it doesn't work when things get so bad that everyone gets tired of the happy talk. So take heart, when the coming economic collapse of the US finally arrives, people will rebel against the happy talk, finally. Cold comfort.

[raysr]

18. Denial

Why would we have attacked Iraq otherwise? With such a "godly" president" there must've been WMD's.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. On a brighter note, that means half of Americans have a working brain!

I'm just wondering how long natural selection is going to take to weed out the other half. :shrug:

[Imalittleteapot]

20. As long as the Administration wants to keep

the public in the political dark, and as long as the MSM delivers talking points instead of well researched information the majority of Americans will remain "stupid", through no fault of their own. Most people don't watch C-Span or come to DU, I'm sorry to say.