Korean Job Discussion Forums

[R. S. Refugee]

After observing one of our posters incessantly frothing about the "Far Left," I thought I'd post this commentary about the ways that the "Far Left" disagrees with the majority of the American public on the issue of the Iraq War.

Glenn Greenwald
Beltway myth: "The left-wing base" vs. "the American people" on Iraq


The Washington Establishment lies most brazenly when they want to claim that their own insulated, fringe views are shared by majorities of "the American people." To achieve that goal, there's just no limit on their willingness to go on television and make up facts. Look at what NPR's Mara Liasson said this weekend on Fox News Sunday about what "the American people" believe about the Iraq War:

HUME: But is [Obama] on the verge of changing on his long-stated promise that says, "The mission is to get out and I'll have them all out, all the forces out, in 16 months?"

LIASSON: I think the 16 months -- he is trying to get himself out of that box. Look, Samantha Power got in a lot of trouble . . . where she said, "Well, of course he's not going to just stick to some campaign promise of 16 months. He's going to look at the facts on the ground."

Well, that's what the American people want a commander in chief to do. That might not be what his left-wing base does. The question for Obama now is what kind of Iraq does he want to leave behind.

So Liasson just flatly stated that "the American people" -- as opposed to "the left wing base," which is (of course) a different animal altogether -- don't want to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months but instead favor withdrawal only when "facts on the ground" permit it. Bill Kristol added that "Obama's move to the center on Iraq shows how radical the Democratic Party's position on Iraq has been for the last year and a half . . . to pull the plug on a war effort in the middle of that effort."

It's obviously possible to argue -- as Liasson obviously believes -- that withdrawal according to an unconditional timetable is the wrong policy. But it's not possible to argue that "the American people" agree with her -- at least it's not possible to argue that with the smallest amount of honesty. All anyone has to do to know how false is her claim is just look at all -- not some, but all -- of the most recent data on that question (from here):

ABC News/Washington Post poll, June 12-15, 2008:


CBS News, May 30, 2008:


Quinnipiac University, May 8-12, 2008:


CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, June 26-29, 2008:


Time Magazine, June 18-25, 2008:


Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg, June 19-23, 2008:



USA Today/Gallup, March 13, 2008:

[OP NOTE: for some reason I couldn't get the graphics that contained the very stiking poll data to embed in this post. So, if this commentary interests you, I'd recommend clicking on this link to read it at the original site. ]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/07/leftist_fringe/index.html

[Kuros]

R.S., that's a great blog entry you've found there. It's too bad you decided to mention Gopher while presenting it, because he really hasn't brought up Obama's recent Iraq comments whatsoever.