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I am interested in policy and politics in a way few people share. I try not to bore the few readers I have with much about politics when there are no elections at hand, my frequent posts about the presidential election of 2008 nonwithstanding.
However, I read about politics and policy every single day and I get upset and I have strong opinions whether I blog about them or not.
I didn’t write about the State of the Union Address because I figured anybody who cared about it had better sources than me. I didn’t write about Obama’s Q&A with Republicans last week for the same reasons.
Today, I can’t help myself.
Markos Moulitsas, better known as “kos”, the publisher of the left wing site The Daily Kos, recently commissioned a poll of self-identified Republicans by Research 2000. Some 2,000 Republicans from across the nation were live interviewed. The results of this poll are startling and disturbing — and hilarious and sad and maddening.
The poll and its “crosstabs” (the really, really wonkish part) are available HERE and I really recommend it to you.
Some 39 percent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached and another 29 percent aren’t sure. His high crime or misdemeanor? Who knows? A clue can be found in another finding: 63 percent of Republicans believe Obama is a socialist. WTF? Do they know the meaning of the word? Well, since McCain said he was a socialist, that must be it.
Significant numbers of Republicans think Obama was not born in the U.S. and wants the terrorists to win, but then about a quarter of Republicans would like to see their state secede from the Union (I thought we’d settled that in 1865).
More than half of Republicans (53%) believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President and 31% believe Obama is a racist who hates whites while another 33% aren’t sure whether he’s a racist who hates whites.
More than 3/4s of Republicans (77%) believe that public schools should teach Genesis in science class. I find that gobsmacking.
For some real gobsmacking, however, try this: a third of Republicans (34%) believe the birth control pill is abortion, more than 3/4s believe abortion is murder (76%), and nearly a third (31%) would outlaw all contraceptives.
I just don’t know what to say about that.
How can we have a reality-based dialogue with these people? How willfully ignorant are they? I’m at a loss for words, despite having just written a couple hundred about this.
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