CNN: Propanda Central--Dhishonest Political Advocacy byPolls

I have already told you that CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media, have instituted a full court press to push for tax increases as a major part of the deficit reduction plan to be produced by the "super committee" of Congress. CNN is not even disguising it advocacy on the matter. After all, CNN is The Liar Network.


Here is the "push" poll that CNN made the centerpiece of its "news" today:


"63% of Americans believe that tax increases on the ealthy should be part of any deficit reduction plan, while only 36% do not".


Why is this dishonest propaganda? Well, polls are evil things, and "issue" polls are more evil than other polls. They are worse than meaninglesss, because the LIE is to distrot their limited meaning.


"Skip, how can you say that the poll is not accurate?"


You really dono't get it, do you? It is NOT a matter of whether the poll is "accurate". We KNOW that the poll is not "accurate", in the sense that it has a built in margin of expected error and a 100% POSSIBLE error from cahnce alone--even assuming that the sameple is representative. The poll---any poll--only represents an ESTIMATE of pubic opinion based on a very limited sample.


However, that is still not the point. People answer these "issue' questions the way they think they are SUPPOSED to anser them--given the wording of the question. More importantly, CNN is deliberately, for propaganda purposes, PICKING OUT this particular poll to emphasize. Other polls show, for example---a number of other polls--that some 70-75% of the American peole support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Copnstitution. Yiou say that is irrelevant, because Democratrs have totally rejected the idea and it cannot pass? Oh, you are a HYPOCRITE, like CNN. Republicans have REJECTED tax increases on the wealthy, and they cannot pass. No, there is NO difference, except CNN is aiming at PROPAGANDA to support its agenda. CNN obviously is NOT saying that DEMOCRATS should do whatever polls say the American people want. That is because CNN is The Liar Network. Yet, CNN is perfectly willing t suggest that Republicans should do whatever polls show the American people want--so long as it is also what Democrats want. This is the very esence of PROPAGANDA. It is not "news'.


Yes, polls also show that Americans favor the Republican "cut, cap and balnace" approach. Does that contradict the poll on increased taxes? Maybe so, and that is one of the many reasons that"issue" polls are worthless. Peole do not know WHAT they want, and are perfectly willing to say they believe in contradictory things if they think they sound good.


It gets worse. More than half of the time, President Obama talks about "TAX REFORM", rather than raising tax rates on the rich. The essence of TAX REFORM is to CUT tax rates for the rich (the top tax rates), while elminationg "tax loopholes" that favor certain companies and individuals (primarily, although not exclusively, the "rich"). See my articles in the past several days on Gloria Borger and Obama. Borger--tryig to adhere to the Obama line that the Bush tax cuts for the "rich" should not be extended--said the CONTRADICTORY things that "tax reform" means reducing top tax rates, while also enableing it to be possilbe to "sell" the end of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. True tax reform, of courre, REPLACES the present tax system, and to even then talk about the Bush tax cuts is absurd.


Of course President Obama deliberately engages in the same deception as Borger and CNN (where she workds). Why else do you think that Obama uses the term "tax reform", when he means "tax increases". Like Borger, Obama even SAYS he wants to increase taxes on the "rich", while still advocating "tax reform". The tow concepts are really inconsistent. Does Obama reall intend to LOWER tax RATES for the "rich", while increasing revenue by elminating tax "expenditures" for specific individuals and companies? Not a chance--that is my assessment and the message that both Obama and CNN are trying to send.


Doubt me? You are a fool, aren't you. You should have learned by now. WHAT "tax increases" is theCNN poll referring to? You don't know, do you? That is because you CANNOT KNOW. The quetin is ambiguous. What if CNN were to say that they were only intending to find out whether the pubic was open to revenue increases, and that CNN did not care whether the pubic thought the question refers to "loophole closing" or the ned of the Bush tax cuts for the rich? That would just show how DISHONEST CNN is, wouldn't it. CNN is trying to PUSH its agenda, and there is no doubt about that. The mabiguity in the questin is deliberate.


And what if the public merely thinks the question is whether they favor real TAX REFORM? Yous ee why I say that "issue" polls are pathetically useless.


I ma not through. WHO are the "rich"? Did CNN try to explain? And did CNN ask the quetin whether the pubic faovrs tax reform over meere tax increases? Did CNN describe closing loopholes, and how "tax reform" would mean LOWER tax rates for the "rich", but maybe more revenue for the government?


You say all of that is impossible to explain in a poll? Exactly right. That is why, again, "issue" polls are USELESS--a truly evil thing because of the way they distort political discourse. These are COMPLEX questions, and they cannot be reduced to a simle poll question without major ambiguity and distrotion.


Q.E.D. CNN is propaganda central: its personnel consistently engage in political advocacy rather than "news" reporting. CNN is dishonest because it refuses to aadmit this obvious fact. CN is obviosly engaged, along with the rest of the mainstream media, in a full court press to push Obama's plan to increase the tax RATES on the "rich" by allowing the Bush tax rates to terminate for ONLY the "rich". You work 80 hours a week, like my NYC lawyer daughter--meaning that a postal carrier probably has a better life than you do? Does not matter. Obama and CNN want you to be a SLAVE to the rest of the population--using your work to pay much more than your "fair share" of the tax burden of this country. (My daughter, by the way, is not yet "rich". She is really rather poor, with a NEGATIVE net worth, because of student loans and the expenses of living in NYC. She has hopes, however, but CNN wansts to deprive her of all hope--along with Obama. So much for "hope and change.")


Wait a mnute. Are not a lot of CNN personnel "rich" (well, at least a few)? I think so. But this is a cse of leftist ideology trumping sanity, the welfare of the country AND self-interest. CNN personnel are leftist dieologues. I have a sugggestion (not new): Why do not the RICH people of CNN whol really like taxes simply CONTRIBUTE to the Federal Government, along with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, and leave the rest of the people alone who do not want to be reduced to that Ayn Rand kind of slavery?


P.S. No proofreading or spell checking (bad eyesight).