Poll for the brain-dead

Sometimes in our liberal Ivory Tower here at the PG Editorial Page some doubt naturally creeps in. We start to question our own attitudes and values. But before we can change our minds about our political philosophy, a timely e-mail arrives from someone such as Richard A. Viguerie, conservative and -- not to name call but there's no other explanation -- lunatic.

Read this press release (which came yesterday) and weep. The premise is so stupid, so juvenile, so insistently right-wing politically correct (and the guy has the gall to cite political correctness) that it clears all political doubts in about three seconds. Here's a guy who is so offended by a note of common sense struck in his party that he has to denounce it by means of a bogus poll. Un-bloody-believable (as they say in the old country) ....

(Manassas, Virginia) An online poll conducted by the Web site ConservativeHQ.com found that a near-unanimous 95 percent of respondents disagreed with House Republican Leader John Boehner's recent statement that he did not consider President Obama to be a socialist.

 When interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press on September 20, Boehner told moderator David Gregory that he did not consider Obama to be a socialist. When pressed by Gregory, Boehner emphatically replied, "Well, listen, I didn't call him that and I'm not going to call him that."

 Only 4 percent agreed with Boehner, with 1 percent undecided.

 The poll then asked to evaluate Obama's political philosophy. Of the 975 respondents, the results were:

 Centrist 1%

Traditional Liberal 1%

Socialist 37%

Marxist 59%

Other 2%

Undecided 0%

 

Commenting on the results, Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement:

"What was dismaying was how easily and totally Boehner caved in to David Gregory's hectoring on political correctness.

"When conservatives flat-out disagree with Republican leadership by a 19-to-1 margin on an issue of this importance, you know the party is in trouble. This is supported by a recent Gallup Poll that found that only 39% of Republicans give an approval rating to the GOP members in Congress of their own party.

"So, if the Republican Party wants to restore its image among the American people, it needs to select a leader who knows how to stand up to David Gregory."

 

NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation magazine) and one of the "conservatives of the century" ( The Washington Times). He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.

 

Poll: Conservatives Disagree with House GOP Leader John Boehner Saying President Obama Isn't a Socialist