[lbo-talk] Tea Party Numbers (and Chomsky's citation of polls)

[c b]

> I agree with your conclusion that Chomsky - like Chuck, Carrol, and others on the left eager to outflank the Democratic party from the outside - read a little too much into these polls. While the polls show that Americans have liberal rather than conservative views on these issues when the questions are posed fairly

"Posed fairly" = answers are very sensitive to how the questions are
worded. Anyone who thinks that there isn't deep hostility to a welfare
state in American popular opinion just isn't looking. Yeah, there are
contradictions, but it's not hard for right-wing politicians to bring
out the hostility.

Doug

^^^^^^^^^

CB: Yeah. I just can't figure out why Obama doesn't just charge into
the face of this and pull off a miracle big left move.

  Ironically, those who were concerned during the campaign about
Obamaniacs having illusions about Obama as superman now are
"dillusioned" with him for not doing superman.

The mention of the large group with anti-welfare state mentality
reminds me that part of the rightwing anti-O demogogy has claimed that
he was  favoring Black people as President ( a basic KKK position
these days: Black people are advantaged over whites in America).  This
has probably contributed to his drop in popularity polls.