RUSH: Now, look at this story in the Washington Post today. Headline: “Post/ABC Poll, Bush Ignoring Public Concerns, Majority Says President Distracted by Issues They Care Little About.” So once again, what has a poll become, folks? A network news poll is nothing more than an editorial that they can put on the front page and call it “news.” You go out with your polling unit, you phrase the questions to get the answers that you want, and then you run the story as though, “Bammo! Look what we found! Look what people are thinking out there?” When people didn’t call the Post. Nobody originated this train of thought. Somebody at the Post or their polling unit got the idea, “I wonder if we asked people if they think the president’s listening to them, what they would say.” They know what the answer would be. How many of you think the president ever listens to you? You know, you can write this question guaranteed to get the result you want. Here are the details of the story: “A clear majority of Americans say President Bush is ignoring the public’s concerns and instead has become distracted by issues that most people say they care little about…. The survey found that 58 percent of those interviewed said Bush is mainly concentrating in his second term on problems and partisan squabbles that these respondents said were unimportant to them. Four in 10 ? 41% ? said the president was focused on important problems — a double-digit drop from three years ago. Underlying that finding is a continuing deep and bitter partisan divide that has fueled increasingly bitter fights in Congress, most recently over some of Bush’s nominees to the federal courts.
“Relatively few Americans viewed that issue as particularly important. According to the poll, nearly eight in 10 Democrats say Bush is not concentrating on issues they personally view as vital while three out of four Republicans disagree.” Okay, so basically what the poll says is, “We went out and we talked to a bunch of Democrats. Democrats don’t think the president is doing what they want him to do, ergo Bush isn’t listening.” Seventy-five percent of Republicans disagreed with the Democrats on this, so we get a poll focusing on what the Democrats say. What the hell is the point? We know who the Democrats are. They hate Bush, particularly Democrats that read the Washington Post and the New York Times. They hate him. It’s a damn good thing that Bush isn’t listening to them. But let me raise a larger issue. Do we want government by polls? Or do we want presidents to do what they think is right? Do we want presidents to have an agenda and lead? I have yet to hear of a great poll reader also be called a leader. As to this business about this judges and a bunch of people don’t think it’s important? Too bad, it is. If a president went out and took a poll and said, “You know what? I want to reform Social Security.” I don’t think it’s important. What if he thinks it is? What’s he supposed to do? A leader leads. He attempts to persuade people why it’s important. We know that public education in this country is woefully bad. We know that a lot of people do not understand the Constitution. We know that a lot of people look at the Supreme Court as the unit that decides political disagreements in this country. That’s not what it was intended to be.
The Supreme Court and the federal bench has become primarily an instrument of the left, where liberalism has become institutionalized, where it’s insulated from the arena of public ideas and debate. The more liberal judges you have inventing law with a liberal tint or deciding cases in favor of liberals or literally ignoring the meaning of the Constitution and the original intent, then you have liberalism made part of the institutional fabric, and there’s nothing people can do about it if they disagree with it because you can’t reelect or throw judges out and you can’t say, “We don’t like that law. We think it needs to be defeated with a new law.” That’s what happens in Congress, and that’s where the people have a voice, but they don’t have a voice with the courts. The president sees a problem as do a lot of people. Now, if the public, for whatever reason, is ignorant about the Constitution, the framework of this country, why it is great, why it has survived, if the people of this country are ignorant, are they to be listened to? Are we supposed to take a poll of ignorant people and do what they say as the majority should be done? A responsible president will not do that. A leader will not do that. So all we have here is a story that’s designed to make the readers of the Washington Post to think that Bush is an arrogant snob, doesn’t care about the concerns of the American people, and is, “Go ahead and cut taxes for the rich, raise taxes on the poor and make sure nobody has a chance to get ahead in life.” This is all about creating depression, disgust, a sour attitude in people. It’s all about transferring the anger and the rage that those on the left and in the media have to the readers and viewers that comprise their audience. This is nothing more than an editorial on the front page, poorly disguised as a news story.
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