Powell Sways Americans
Cover story headline at the online Post says that. Synopsis under it says "A washingtonpost.com/ABC poll finds 61% of the public is persuaded, but sentiment for having war is level." Go to the story and the headline changes to Majority Sees Justification For War. In the story, the following are stated:
A total of 504 randomly selected adults were interviewed Wednesday night for this washingtonpost.com-ABC News survey. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus 5 percentage points. The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single night represent additional potential sources of error in this poll
Less than half of those surveyed (49 percent) said the administration presented a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, and those familiar with the speech were no more likely (50 percent) to be convinced than those who had not heard about yesterday's Security Council appearance (47 percent).
Overall, more than six in 10 Americans-61 percent-believe that the Bush administration has made the case for war, up from 54 percent in a survey conducted last week after the president's State of the Union address.
IOW: Support for war was somewhere between 50% and 58% before PowellPoint UN Presentation; after, somewhere between 57% and 65% - I bumped the sampling error down to 4%, though the true error is 4.6% in a sample of 500 for a binary (ie, yes or no) choice.
Based on the sample size, insignificant in a 2000 census of 281 million Americans, a slight increase in support is shown slightly probable in randomly selected adults who are are:
(1) likely to be home at the polling time,
(2) answering their telephone when they see the Caller ID, and
(3) sufficiently detached from reality to respond fearlessly to personal questions from strangers - whether or not they watched the UN speech!
That's the real picture, even though it makes a lousy sound bite. It is undeniable. Here's my lousy headline and story:
Most Sensible People Are Fucking Scared Shitless Right Now!
Planet Earth (AP) ...and here's why: Both The USA and North Korea have now totally committed themselves to pre-emptive strikes with nuclear weapons. Even if you don't live near a convenient target, you're still worried, maybe overwhelmed by thoughts of losing your job, if you have one, to the deflating economy.
If you don't have a job, you despair at ever finding one - especially if your sense of history reminds you of parallels to the opening days of The Great Depression.
If you have minded your Santayana (who, by the way, was not the same as the first guy to remember the Alamo), you will be troubled by parallels in the present day of the national and religious alignments that preceded the War To End All Wars, - except then a Gatling Gun was a weapon of mass destruction.
Then, after a weekend of imagining the horrible deaths suffered by truly brave astronauts, you settle down to a peaceful dinner with your family or friends. The phone rings and some asshole you don't know asks you if Powell was convincing at the UN. There aren't any pictures of Camp Xray, yet you imagine it, and quickly decide you certainly never want to see it in person, fate is cruel enough - "What's the fastest way to get rid of him?" you think...
Time is precious, especially now.
6:22:28 PM 
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