Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Politicians find polls unimportant - and I'm Santa Claus! I'm also to blame for Maureen Dowd's singlehood.

So this is a couple days old, but nevertheless, I thought it was big - President Bush's poll ratings are at an all-time low. It seems as if everyone is turning against him - including his own political party, which is particularly telling given the value Republicans put on being a united front and backing the president and saying things like "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists," and so forth. It seems as if the war and its support is an issue (among others) that has reached a bit of a critical mass. I mean, when John Warner, the staunchly troops-supporting Virginia Republican, is acknowledging unease with war, you've got a major opinion shift on your hands. People are jumping off the Bush bandwagon like it's on fire.

But the reason I bring this up is to make an observation. I love it when politicians and their staffers say they don't pay any attention to polls. That's right, they don't - and the world is completely flat! We actually live on this massive saltine! Mountains are salt crystals, and those "little" holes are all the lakes and oceans! White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said, while poo-pooing polls, that they were merely "snapshots in time." Well, if the latest polls are any illustration, everyone in your snapshots has red-eye, big Scotty. Someone's taking blurry pictures of their feet. Or maybe you've just got your lens cap on.

In any case, I just thought that was funny. Yes - politicians pay no attention to polls, athletes pay no attention to individual statistics, it's not about the money, and I am, in fact, the tooth fairy. So there you go.

And in the interest of being fair and balanced, I also wanted to mention New York Times Columnist
Maureen Dowd and the preposterous premise of her new book, titled "Are Men Necessary: When Sexes Collide." In this book, she argues that men aren't attracted to women in power, and they prefer "the women who serve them." Oh - is that why you're not married, Maureen? Way to turn your personal issues into a call for a new feminist crusade. Wish I had that kind of bully pulpit. In my new book, "Is Tipping Necessary: When Empty Wallets Strike," I argue that, because I sat home and ate bread and mustard for dinner last night rather than eating out because I blew all my money over the weekend at bars and clubs, we should all band together to end the unnecessary and evil occupation of bartending. See how that works? With no personal agenda at all? Outstanding.

I'm also a little fed up with this male-bashing. I think men and women are and should be thought of as equal - so it's irritating that over the last few years, this "yes, dear" mentality has afflicted many men, with the male gender basically being perceived as either stupid, oafish, wimpy (because when we're alpha males, women want sensitive guys, and when we're sensitive, what happened to our testicles?), or just basically inferior. And Maureen Dowd capitalizes on this climate to justify her own spinsterhood. Thanks, Maureen. But no thanks. I think I'll wait for the paperback. Actually...I'm not gonna buy this at all.

2 comments:

Train Wreck said...

What surprises me is not that the administration is choosing to battle "so-called-facts" with empty rhetoric but the fact that people are changing their opinion about the President. One of the most talked about polls, other than the general approval rating, is that, for the first time in his presidency, the majority of those polled said they do not find him trustworthy. I agree - the President isn't trustworthy. But who the hell thought the President was and is now changing his mind? Did these people not see this coming? If there is one thing the President is, it is a bad liar. That's not to say he hasn't lied. On the contrary. But were people just fooled by his "stay the course"-"we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here"-"intellignet design" rhetoric and are now coming to their senses? From my perspective, nothing has changed. I feel the same way about him now taht I did when he was running in '00 and throughout his presidency. I don't know if there is a point to be made here but I just find it mindboggling.

On another note, I would just like to register, for the record, my unending disdain for Sen. Elizabeth Dole. For the love - that woman is either so evil that she enjoys spouting arguably dangerous bullshit on television OR she drank even more Bush-is-great Kool-Ade than even Bush himself. Please, vote that woman out of office before she makes me never want to set foot in the South again.

That is all.

btw, in order to post here, I had to register for my own blog. So if I ever get around to it, I'll be posting similar opinions at "Aren't You Even Mildly Pissed Off."

MSH said...

Did you really have to register for a blog? Thought I turned that off so that you just had to enter those letter things in.

Thanks for your thoughts, train wreck.