About us Login Get email updates
County Fair
Print

In nonsensical criticism of ABC, Newsbusters' Whitlock touts poll he mocked just a month ago

March 09, 2010 4:53 pm ET by Jamison Foser

Newsbusters' Scott Whitlock is really grasping at straws in an attempt to criticize an ABC report for failing to mention that some 9/11 Truthers are liberal.  

Take, for example, the fact that Whitlock's headline undermines his central complaint: "ABC Leaves Ideology Out of Investigation Into 9/11 Truthers: 'They Come From All Over the Political Spectrum.'"  Seems pretty obvious that if ABC noted the Truthers "come from all over the political spectrum," they didn't actually "leave[] ideology out" of their report, doesn't it?

Later in the post, Whitlock wrote "Now, Truthers don't reside only on the left, but why ignore the fact that many do?"  What?  Does Whitlock know what "ignore" means?  If ABC -- by Whitlock's own admission -- acknowledged that Truthers "come from all over the political spectrum," they clearly didn't "ignore" the fact that some are liberals. (Whitlock also acknowledged that the ABC report indicated that "Former Obama environmental czar Van Jones forced out after signing an online petition for 9/11 truth that he later repudiated.")

So, if ABC didn't actually ignore the fact that some Truthers are liberals, what is Whitlock so upset about?  Seems what really bothers him is that ABC didn't mention a 2007 Rasmussen poll of dubious merit:

However, according to a 2007 poll by Rasmussen, 35 percent of Democrats believed that President Bush knew about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in advance. Yet, Bury blandly explained, "They are an eclectic group with widely different agenda, including war protestors, first responders who feel neglected and families of some 9/11 victims."

Bury did highlight one attendee, Sander Hicks, noting, that he "want[s] treason charges brought against members of the Bush administration." However, there is no mention of the Rasmussen poll about Democrats. Now, Truthers don't reside only on the left, but why ignore the fact that many do?

Now, that Rasmussen poll isn't particularly significant, as the question asked was too broad to yield meaningful results -- as even conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg concedes.  But what's really hilarious about Whitlock touting the poll is that it has barely been a month since he used it as an example of poll results that aren't credible.   Here's Whitlock's February 2 post about an MSNBC report:

So, one poll, by a left-wing website (in conjunction with the firm Research 2000), is enough for MSNBC to assert that 58 percent of GOPers subscribe to a bizarre conspiracy? A Rasmussen poll from May of 2007 found that 61 percent of Democrats either believed that George Bush knew about the 9/11 terror attack in advance or aren't sure. Does that mean that "most Democrats" are Truthers?

See what Whitlock did there? He dismissed the validity of "one poll" finding he didn't like -- and, in an effort to demonstrate how crazy it would be to take it seriously, he compared it to the Rasmussen finding about Democrats and 9/11.  

But now, just over a month after comparing a Research 2000 poll to the Rasmussen poll in order to discredit the Research 2000 poll, Whitlock is complaining that ABC didn't mention the Rasmussen poll.

So Scott Whitlock's view of the credibility of the Rasmussen finding is variable, dependent on who he wants to criticize and why.

Expand All Expand 1st Level Collapse All Add Comment
    • Author by mustardman (March 09, 2010 5:07 pm ET)
      3  
      Lot's of desperate white wing heads exploding lately. Great days indeed.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by whatIthink (March 09, 2010 5:14 pm ET)
      2  
      This is a typical right wing tactic. They criticize and ridicule polls when it doesn't say what they want, then trumpet and use polls that do show results favorale to them as proof of their righteousness...even if the results are from the same polling company, and many times from the same poll.
      Report Abuse

my.MediaMatters.org

Login  Sign Up

About the Blog

Feed Icon
  • County Fair is a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web as well as original commentary, breaking news and rapid response updates to major media events from Media Matters senior fellows and other staff.