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Despite God-awful polling results, WashPost's Cillizza claims Republicans have had a "good year"

October 20, 2009 1:11 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

The amazing part is that pundit Chris Cillizza makes that claim today after detailing how the GOP just got slaughtered in the latest WashPost survey: [emphasis added]:  

And, perhaps most troubling for GOP hopes is the fact that just 20 percent of the Post sample identified themselves as Republicans, the lowest that number has been in Post polling since 1983. (No, that is not a typo.)

I noted earlier today how the dismal GOP poll results do not fit in with the preferred Beltway narrative. And sure enough, Cillizza seemed to do his best to assure Republicans that the news wasn't that bad:

That's not to say that 2009 hasn't been a good year for Republicans. By and large, it has been.

Imagine what the those poll results would have looked like if the GOP had had a bad year?

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    • Author by ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© (October 20, 2009 1:19 pm ET)
      5  
      Stop Picking on Chris Cillizza!!!

      He's merely typing the b.s. his editor pays him to, over at the liberal-biased Washington Post.
      ~
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Major Tom (October 20, 2009 1:30 pm ET)
      2  
      I heard, not long ago, someone complaining about how liberal the Washington Post is... I generally don't read the WashPost on a daily basis, but I have no idea how anyone could come to that conclusion... Was that an isolated incident, or do any of you hear that claim?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mk3872 (October 20, 2009 1:33 pm ET)
      2  
      That's all the proof you need that when the MSM is onto a theme, there nothing that will get them off it.

      No reason to let silly facts and poll numbers get in the way of a good media theme ...
      Report Abuse
    • Author by bilbo_dies (October 20, 2009 1:37 pm ET)
      2  
      I think the idea here is that:

      "considering how low the GOP poll numbers should be, it is evidence of a good year that 20% of the people still find them acceptable."
      Report Abuse
    • Author by pros2pros2940 (October 20, 2009 1:43 pm ET)
      3  
      A good year ? In what way ?

      Yeah mean after the GOP media outlets hyped death panels & teabaggers ?

      And the GOP accomplished .............what ?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by goesto11 (October 20, 2009 3:02 pm ET)
           
        Come on, that's not fair -- they drew a couple of million people to the National Mall a few weeks ago!

        Sorry, couldn't type that with a straight face.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by phredicles (October 20, 2009 3:13 pm ET)
        2  
        I believe the premise is that by any sort of logic, by now the whole lot of them should have been tarred, feathered, and shipped off to the Hague to stand trial for crimes against humanity. The fact that they haven't been makes it a good year.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by shaggles (October 20, 2009 6:33 pm ET)
        3  
        They've stymied the Dem congress and the President and won great concessions from both while giving up very little on their side. Their poll numbers may be poor but they are weilding far more power than their numbers in congress would seem to allow.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Tbone Slickens (October 21, 2009 8:59 am ET)
             
          Let this unemployment rate keep trending to double digits and you'll see their poll numbers come up also.

          As the Rajun Cajun said..."it's the economy stupid".
          Report Abuse
          • Author by IowaDem (October 22, 2009 6:47 pm ET)
               
            Why? Most people still blame the Republicans for the mess we're in. I don't think the old "throw the bums out" mentality is Republicans road back to power this time because most people still think they are the bums. As much as the right really, rteally wants to pin the economy on Obama now, they just can't seem to convince anyone outside of that 20% that this is true. Heck, even though I think it's a lousy indicator of the economy, the Dow is around 10,000 again. For many news consumers, this is all they need to know, unfortunately.
            Report Abuse
    • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (October 20, 2009 1:52 pm ET)
      4  
      The Republican Party is down to their core. I would be very surprised if that 20% number ever got lower, after all, even Cheney's popularity never went much under 20%.

      Look at it this way there is 20% of the country's populace that is just stone cold crazy !


      Report Abuse
      • Author by MickD (October 20, 2009 3:52 pm ET)
           
        I thought that Darth Cheney was at 18% approval near the end of his reign of terror.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by wesley (October 20, 2009 2:11 pm ET)
      1 3
      Here's what I call a good year by congress...gridlock.

      The less that they "accomplish"...the better off we are. And that encompasses both democrats and republicans.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by overmars jr. (October 20, 2009 4:14 pm ET)
      1  
      WaPo = joke.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by steeve (October 21, 2009 12:35 am ET)
         
      Democrats suck; republicans suck much, much worse.

      That should cover a few thousand words of "analysis" in the biggest newspapers. Maybe they can replace it with weather reports from every town in the country with population over 10000. That's about the only thing left the media can be trusted with.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by professor frink (October 21, 2009 12:45 pm ET)
           
        If the media only had the weather to cover, they'd somehow find a way to mutate straight "just the facts and nothing but the facts" reports to make it "he said/she said" and find "experts" to "debate" points, and there'll be a slew of false weather reports that get hyped up to the point the MSM apologizes for not covering "the other side."

        "A good year for Republicans?" Does good in this case mean bad? Is it opposite day?
        Report Abuse

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