Blumenthal: "Misperceptions are the pillars of Bush's support"

[nostamj]

But one year after Bush's triumphant May Day landing in a flight suit on the deck of the USS Lincoln and appearance behind the White House-ordered sign "Mission Accomplished," his splendid little war has entered a Stalingrad-like phase of urban siege and house-to-house combat. By far, April has been the bloodiest month -- 122 U.S. soldiers killed, compared with 73 last April in the supposed last month of the war. The unending war has inspired among Bush's backers a rally-'round-the-flag effect, a redoubling of belief.

They believe in the cause as articulated by Vice President Dick Cheney this past week in his speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., where Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" oration. "You and I are living in such a time" of the "gravest of threats," said Cheney. Churchill stands as the model of leadership. "And today we have such a leader in President George W. Bush." Once again Cheney explains the motive for the Iraq war, implicitly conflating Saddam Hussein with al-Qaida and oblivious to the failure to discover WMD. "His regime cultivated ties to terror," he said, "and had built, possessed, and used weapons of mass destruction." And Saddam "would still be in power," he continued, coming to the point of his allegory, if John Kerry, cast as Neville Chamberlain, had had his way.

The misperceptions that Cheney was reinforcing are pillars of Bush's support, according to a study conducted by the University of Maryland. Fifty-seven percent of those polled "believe that before the war Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda," and 45 percent "believe that evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda has been found." Moreover, 65 percent believe that "experts" have confirmed that Iraq had WMD. "Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq had WMD, 72% said they would vote for Bush and 23% said they would vote for Kerry ... Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq had supported al Qaeda, 62% said they would vote for Bush and 36% said they would vote for Kerry." The reason given by respondents for their views was that they had heard these claims from the Bush administration.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/04/29/fiction/index.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. And Hughes is a pillar of the community

The next time someone quotes her to me as proof, I'm going to hurl. As a four-star General of the conservative commandos, she manages to twist it all, always circling in 'terra'. Then the 'thinking' republicans are forced into such an intense workout of mental gymnastics all they can do is concede and say, "Yes! I understand!" :puke:

[nostamj]

2. i think they put Hughes out

to see just how far they could go with outright LIES and unsubstantiated smears without the corporate media finally gagging.

the answer: as low as they can, as low as they can

MedalGate is proof positive that the corporate media has no intention of covering any news...