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Saturday, September 04, 2021

Is it more universal or only me, skeptical of Breitbart news? Is it a conditioned reflex?

 Screaming headline

Poll: One in Five Americans Want to Take Back Their 2020 Biden Vote

I don't need to spend time on that any further. What kind of a poll only uses a sample size of five persons? Move on, there is more-and-better on the web.

A necessary UPDATE_____

Second Breitbart screaming headline

Communist Regime Poll: 98% of Chinese Youth Blame U.S. for Coronavirus Pandemic

Now that is a BIG sample size. A poll like that must have cost a fortune. Almost as costly as a census.


An unnecessary UPDATE, but informative_____

Okay, in fairness to Breitbart, as to whose poll, sample size, questions as asked, sampling method, and outcome - using the entire text Breitbart published - they did say "Emerson College" polled whoever asking whatever, in sequence.

Poll: Plurality Holds Joe Biden Responsible for ‘Losing’ Afghan War, Not Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 02: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the ongoing federal response to Hurricane Ida in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on September 02, 2021 in Washington, DC. The deadly storm made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane and …
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

[subheadline] A Thursday poll reveals a plurality of Americans holds President Joe Biden responsible for “losing” the war in Afghanistan, not former President Donald Trump, according to Emerson College polling.

 When respondents were asked which president “holds the most responsibility for the war in Afghanistan,” 49 percent said President George W. Bush, 24 percent said President Joe Biden, 18 percent said Barack Obama, and 10 percent said President Donald Trump.

However, when comparing the outcome of the war and who holds responsibility for the war, respondents hold Bush (73 percent), Obama (70 percent), Biden (68 percent) responsible, “whereas the majority (57%) of those who hold Trump most responsible for the war believe the US won the war.”

According to the polling group, “this comparison highlights the complexity of lasting conflicts. For three Presidents (Bush, Obama, and Biden), the voters see these presidents as responsible for the US losing the war, compared to the voters who saw Trump as responsible, who see his actions as why the US won the war.”

 The blame for losing the Afghan war comes as Biden evacuated American troops when the Taliban gained control of the country, which led to 13 U.S. service members killed and over 170 Afghans dead from a suicide bomber who detonated his charge outside the Kabul airport.

Biden reacted to the news by continuing to withdraw those who reached the airport but did not expand his military force to secure the city to rescue any stranded Americans stopped by Taliban checkpoints.

At present time, it is unknown exactly how many Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan. U.S. officials estimate between 100 or 200 are trapped. However, the White House originally claimed 11,000 Americans were in the county before it succumbed to the Taliban.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø 

At a guess the poll was taken among Breitbart readers, and the question of which fact or set of facts you rely on in forming an opinion was discarded when Tarot cards and chicken entrail reading tied with tea leaf readings a close third. 

There you have it. Trump won it. Biden lost it.

Win/lose hinging on who gets the poppy harvest proceeds, ultimately - and, of course, hearts and minds factoring in too. If finding that poll reporting somewhat confused, reread the item to get the true sense of it. In this instance Breitbart outdid itself in poll reliance and reporting. The whole story anyway was showing Biden turning his back, bowing his head, and walking away; so why care about the text.

Finally, while impertinent to ask, how come Carter and Reagan and Poppy Bush were either rung in at zero responsibility, or for reasons of  "accuracy"  not offered poll respondents as a choice - i.e., with the responsibility choice timeframe starting with little Bush's inauguration and 9/11? Also, the foreign service, CIA, and our all-volunteer military all entered, then (ostensibly) all left, decades apart in entering and leaving, but why clutter a poll with too many won/lost choices?

________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Regarding Breitbart's "Poll: Plurality Holds Joe Biden Responsible for ‘Losing’ Afghan War, Not Donald Trump," if you wish to stoop to the blame game instead of being joyous that we finally left the quagmire, blame Jimmy Carter and his ill-advised choice of lead National Security guru - they got us there, and if not in there in the first place then withdrawal would be a non-issue. 

CounterPunch, here, the entire article is worth reading but on the Carter question and his idiot right-wing warmongering advisor, do a word search = regret what

Then read on from there. Then go back to the item's beginning and read it all.

That item's use of the Groundhog Day analogy is a top notch idea, which worked because the writing did not too flagrantly beat the theme into the ground by over-repetition. Arguably just enough. Not too much. Even less would have worked better.

As to how most present-day mainstream and right-wing Afghanistan-related keening ignores drug trade control as a "why be there" factor; another time, another drug, another set of goals and set of perps; CounterPunch again, this link. A pair of Bush family interventions in other nation's business, with money to be made by criminalizing competition and generating secret monopoly profits - even an Enforcement Agency to bolster the monopoly power and keep watch on other agencies. The perpetration of such stuff is stuff that would make Stalin proud, yet he concentrated enough personal power he did not need to sneak around to do mischief. It is enough to make you want to throw a shoe at somebody.