Writing in The Hill, pollster Mark Mellman took me to the cyber-woodshed yesterday, claiming that my post referencing his work on a 1999 poll commissioned by defense contractor Lockheed Martin provided an "inaccurate rendition of it" and reveals my "schizophrenic" relationship with polls.
I beg to differ.
To get the whole story, read my original April 2000 column on the commissioned poll -- but, in short, I wrote about how Lockheed Martin had hired Mellman to conduct a poll that, lo and behold, just happened to find that 56 percent of Americans (or at least the 800 Mellman was able to keep from hanging up on him when he called) would support a $2 billion increase in funding for "tracking planes to be flown in drug producing areas" -- a finding that helped provide cover for the Clinton White House's proposal to send $1.3 billion in drug war money to the human-rights-challenged government of Colombia.
According to Mellman, that wasn't the case. At all. Mellman claims that Lockheed didn't hire him to further its economic interests and get a chunk of drug war cash. No, it hired him to produce "a serious study on the underexplored subject of drug policy." Very noble of Lockheed.
He castigates me for assuming "the question was tailor-made to serve the client's interest. In fact, the opposite was true -- I insisted on including the item, fearing that whatever support people might express for interdiction in general might evaporate at the thought of vast spending on airplanes." Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what happened. Lockheed, the maker of P-3 radar planes used to track drug smugglers, and a company that had been lobbying hard for more money for drug interdiction efforts, was actually all about that "serious study" and it was Mellman who "insisted" on asking voters about coughing up $2 billion for planes, lest their support for interdiction evaporate upon seeing the ten-figure price tag.
But earlier in his piece, Mellman says that he was "personally chagrined" that people favored interdiction efforts over policies that favored treatment. So since he personally favored treatment why did he "fear" that voters might turn off to interdiction (cutting off supply) when they discovered that it is a far, far less cost-effective approach than treatment (lowering demand)? Did someone say "schizophrenic"? Or would it be fair to suggest that he "feared" his deep-pocketed client might not like getting such a response?
Towards the end of his piece, Mellman delivers what he thinks is his "Gotcha!" knockout punch, claiming "the airplanes weren't for Colombia" at all. "They were for the U.S. -- a fact clearly stated in the question... And what of the tie between the poll and the lurid tale of billions for drug wars in Colombia's jungles? Oops. There was none. The poll was all about U.S. interdiction efforts."
Really? Let's review the finding of Mellman's study: 56 percent of his polling sample would support $2 billion being spent on "tracking planes to be flown in drug-producing areas." [emphasis mine]. "Drug-producing areas." Where exactly were the "drug producing areas" in America the tracking planes were to be flown in, Mark -- Nebraska and Wyoming?
And I was not the only one who made the Colombia connection. Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Gregory Vistica (along with Steven Ambrus in Bogota), who first uncovered that Mellman's drug poll had been commissioned by Lockheed Martin, connected the same dots, reporting that the Lockheed-funded poll "prodded Clinton into action" on his Colombian drug war aid package, after Mellman warned that drugs were "an Achilles heel" for Democrats in the upcoming election. Oops.
Mellman wraps up his piece with this zippy zinger: "I don't expect a correction from Arianna, though. As we've learned in our word-of-mouth studies, exciting stories are much more fun than simple truths."
Especially when the "exciting stories" are spun by someone trying to rewrite history -- and the "simple truths" are both embarrassing and a tad sleazy, and leave one feeling more than a little personally chagrined.
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arianna, you are brilliant and funny!
Hmmm, you think NBC (GE) will ever show "Why We Fight?"
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/
When it's Colombia, Lockheed Martin, and money you can guarantee there is some greed going on
Ariana, I love the way you write, partly because I agree with what you are saying in most cases, but mainly because of your sense of humor. Your choice of words is clear and to the point, exposing the lapdogs of Mellman's ilk for what they are. Thank you for keeping an honored tradition alive. Honesty has its perks, don't you think?
Arianna, these guys are past masters at double-speak, took classes in it in law school. They think a telling point will remain telling, even if their next sentence contradicts its premise. They expect, because they watch tv, too, that the average audience of their words will forget logic and sense, and only listen to "reasonableness," in their arguments.
To them, an argument presented in the language of reasonableness, with abundant use of such phrases as "of course," "naturally," "no matter how you look at it," and "the opposite is true," trump any amount of mere logic and sense.
They themselves think that reality is negotiable, depending on the amount of conviction one brings to the exercise. The way to win, in their minds, is just to never believe you can lose. If you believe your own myth, how can you fail?
---
shoot your tv.
You are so correct. The problem is that it is mostly true with a somnambulent society such as we presently have, that the average audience will listen to the reasonableness in their arguments and forget the logic and sense and even facts. How else can you explain the huge percentage of Americans that still unwaveringly support Bush? I know his numbers are low as any president has ever been, but to have any points above a decimal is beyond my ability to comprehend. Sleep walkers.
Me thinks thou protests too much........................................
I always feel astounded when people who use alcohol spend billions of dollars to create armed melodrama out of people who use other drugs.
My parents were alcoholics. My grandparents were alcoholics. I have seen what alcohol does to the people who are addicted to it.
An alcoholic is not any prettier than a meth addict or a heroin addict. They commit acts of violence. They abuse their children. They do all kinds of bad things.
But it seems like the innocent victims of alcoholics are second class citizens compared to the innocent victims of illegal drug users.
Why is there no campaign of armed vengeance against Pete Coors or against the people who make $2.99 vodka?
We're tearing up the Constitution, poisoning the environment, engaging in mass incarceration, and arming our society to the teeth to stop one form of addiction.
That doesn't stop addiction.
Would the world really be better off if all the cocaine addicts switched to vodka and Red Bull instead?
Ask the child of any alcoholic about that one.
as a child of drunks.....manager of night clubs for years....have many a drunk family members...i have seen the damage of booze............
with kids who smoke pot....I say" thank God"...I have to lecture my grown, well grounded, pot smoking kids not to eat too many Cheeto's...
If i was smoking pot through my red wine years......ahhh the desicions I would have made.....differently...
Hey ...spend money on feeding the people, giving them hope and jobs...and a future...then crack and meth and cocaine......is not the only way out...
If you ask any 800 people, I think that 56% think we should be "tracking planes" period. They wouldn't like to see those planes bumbing into each other now, would they? As for the dollar amount; what the hey...it ain't their money (well it is, but they figure they have no control over how it gets spent anyhow).
Keep calling them out Arianna. You have those spinsters on the Right so worked up. Your site is becoming a must read.
You are doing this nation a great service.
Mellmann is the new generation of Economic Hit Men of which John Perkins mentioned in his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." This is a huge cancer on our society of which no one seems to be aware. I appreciate your courage to keep this issue out front, for it is the destruction of our country if allowed free course to sell the country for Lockheed's benefit. Lockheed, though, is but one small piece of American Empire that is using US taxpayer money to further their corporate interests. My fervent hope, though, is that we can get the chief agent of this Empire out of office and neurtalized on a ranch in Texas and relegate the jackles [Cheney, Wolfowitz, George Shultz, and the entrenched neo-con cabal [Kristol, Brookes, and a slew of pro-Israelite Jews to retirement.
At least this serves as an explanation of why Bush1, Bush2, AND Clinton never
seriously considered decriminalization... they were, even back then, planning yet another
rip-off of Gov't funds disguised as "interdiction".
I wonder just HOW MUCH cash has been wasted by the "fun-is-evil" crowd since
Harry Anslinger!!!
And of course..... perscription drugs are now the DRUGS OF CHOICE for high-schoolers... THIS from
recent Federal stats!
All because of the Puritan mind-set.
oh yeah, makes total sense we would want to put percocet and darvocet and oxycontin into our bodies...those awesome, puritan substances that God made for Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline...
Those evil plants growing in the ground are evil because poor people and mexicans find relief and joy through an occasional toke. Not like God put them there or anything.
And that dime bag you bought to make reality seem a little more palatable contributes to terrorism...thats right, Taaarrrism. That thing Muslims do by blowing up bombs that make good Americans french-speaking queers lining up for abortions and throwing away their bibles and morals....
had enough of the reefer madness?
Well, lets all do something about it..
Any cyber-snapshots of that woodshed encounter?
Here's how the polling may have gone:
Ring, ring, ring
"Hello?"
"Excuse me sir, but are you a member of the Republican party working for Lockheed-Martin?"
"Er...why, no I'm not"
Click
And Lockheed and other military contractors are known for their general selflessness and nobility. I once worked for a federal contractor that supported the military, and I promise you that our guiding principles were all about selfless solutions to the world's problems.
And when are the self proclaimed Experts like Mellman who design "serious studies on underexplored issues" ever going to get over supply side interventions. Let's recap: they work in the "drug wars?" NO. But that's because the drug wars provide the CIA with the majority of its "black" operating budget. They work on our "Immigration Problem?" NO But that's because NAFTA destroyed agriculture in south and central America and coming here is the only way desperate people can feed their families. They work in our "Energy Crisis?" HELL NO. Al Gore said it best on TED, "Junkies find veins in their toes .... when they run out of larger veins elsewhere in their bodies. And so now we're looking at shale and conducting endless Imperial Adventures. And they work in our present overall "Economic Crisis?" GOOD GOD, NO. But let's bail out financial speculators anyways - they're too big and too important for us to let them fail.
So maybe we could try a quick peek at Demand in a few of these areas and see what happens? And in the process, take care of the real victims and not the perpetrators.
The "PHONEY" wars!~
War on drugs!
War on terrorism!
War on poverty!
War on crime!
These misnomers are all designed to scare the American people and give the impression that we need 'protection' from these 'evils'!
Wake up folks! The politicians are running a protection racket!!
Great post! Couldn't agree more.
War on this, War on that! Lies, Lies and more Lies. We have a President of the United State of America who is a WAR CRIMINAL! wHY DON;T wE tALK aBOUT that!!!!!
Am I the only one who occasionally wonders if I'm actually in a Twilight Zone Episode? Like the one in the doll-house town? Or perhaps a marionette? Maybe a better analogy would be a fiddle, cuz it sure feels like we're getting played.
HuffPost's Pick
The inquisition was burning Peruvian Indians at the stake over 500 years ago for chewing coca. The drug war has had a long enough trial period. Coerced sobriety and coerced religious conversions are equally despicable. Comebackid is right too. "Drug Lords" at the highest level do operate with impunity anyway, and ending prohibition would cause their inventories to suddenly, drastically decrease in value; heroin, for instance, costs less than aspirin to produce. The "drug war" is strictly mercenary, using "moral" excuses. I'm sick of being told I should spend money to have someone else's religious morality rammed down my throat at gunpoint. Thank You Arianna, for consistently taking a stand on something elected officials are too cowardly to be truthful about.
Much like "prohibition" under the Volstead Act, the "Drug War" has been a most useful tool. It allows Government to bestow favor upon a selected few - the unjust enrichment in a trade where the profit motive is entirely Government-created - by selective enforcement, it allows for manipulation of the public to obtain approval for massive budgets and encroaching and coercive new powers for law enforcement in political fiefdoms, and it also allows for cooperation with those selected for unjust enrichment, to fund "black ops budgets"and slush funds, entirely bypassing any form of Constitutional oversight..
The same - more or less - can be said of the strategy taken in the "War On Terror". It's a sham perpetrated on the American public and most effectively so for vast areas of Government budgeting and encroachment on our civil liberties.
If we took all of the money spent on the "Drug War" and the just say no bullshit; we could purchase those same drugs from the source and destroy them.
It is exactly like our really swell war in Iraq. We would have fewer people hating the USA if we droped the money out of planes and not the bombs, bullets, death and destruction that money now pays for.
Well said...
To add, most people know the old saw: insanity is doing the same thing over & over, but expecting different results".
After the THIRD Gov't. study I KNOW OF, says that the "D.A.R.E." anti-drug
programs not only don't work, and are COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE,
the feds announced MORE FUNDING for them!
WHO'S MAKING THAT MONEY????????????
If our government representatives pulled their heads out of their asses they could see that legalizing Hemp farming, decriminalizing the possession of same [along with cocaine], legalize medical use of Marijuana, and ultimately setting up government run outlets for both cocaine & marjuana retailing would help revitalize our economy and eliminate huge amounts of wasted "drug war" spending. The benefits to farming and manufacturing alone from hemp farming would far out weigh any negatives.
But of course that would make a lot of folks in DC much poorer, and upset a carefully constructed apple cart containing a full load of government corruption and international "off the books" deals that would cause instant calamity within government agencies [the DEA & CIA come to mind].
Arianna, please ask Cooper and Rosen why they pen Fowler as an ardent Obama supporter. Her blogs are anything but supportive. I find their characterization, disturbing and insulting.
You're right, Obama's supporters must not ask tough questions of their candidate. He must be seen as the Savior, the one True Hope. Dissent, or even inquiry, must not be tolerated! We must make an example of Fowler.
Roshi, in the interest of full disclosure, what rank do you hold in Hillary's Cellulite Brigade?
Insulting someones appearance or speech is not a tough question. It's called a smear.
The "war on drugs" should be a no-brainer: No consumers, no drugs. The war is a charade. Too much money involved. As on everything else, too much corruption.
The war on drugs won't work because of The Secret.
HILARIOUS! THE SECRET, INDEED. WELL PLAYED, SIR.
Great work.........
When are the Washington old guard gonna get it......guys....Watergate/Whitewater days are over.........
you are in the world of bloggers...citizens of the world.....with video and and instant messages.... no running to the car for your 35 MM camera.......your are in the digital age....there is no 5 sec delay on politics any more...
checking all facts...is a passion...the truth is screaming at us young and old....
Welcome to the new age of the Makaka moment.....you can't hide the hookers....can't be elitist...racist...or just plain stupid......
No longer can you say one thing, then manipulate it to fit the truth of the day......
There are too many of us......everywhere......shifting thru the bullshit.......and bringing out the truth....this......ladies and gentlemen is democracy evolving.....
First off pattyfish, if you think that bloggers are more honest in checking facts than anyone else, you are crazy. Second, saying that the digital age is better for the world than otherwise is also crazy. Third saying that "bloggers like yourself are 'Citizens of the World' makes me question your support of the great things that the United States of America Stands for. (Truth, Freedom , Courage and Justice) Bloggers like to confuse the facts just like any media outlet or gov't agency. Don't promote yourself as anything but what you are. You are a partisan anti-American pinko just like Arianna.
To learn about what it means and how to be a real American, go to, htttp://djgoski.com
We welcome your comments and will post them on the website. Tell your friends that when they have time between protests and visiting the coffee shop that they are welcome to post comments nomatter how vulger, on the site. Just don't try to hack it because it has happened in the past and they will go to jail.
The site is not a blog. To post a comment, click on the "Contact Us" page.
I can't say "We", but "i" can't wait to hear from you!
I used the term.....US as a figure of speech...
I did not say I was a blogger......I said bloggers...as in out there...
I am not crazy...bloggers are full of shit too....
but i can not help but get giddy by the fact that a lot of truth comes out because of the internet and places like the Huffington post....for US simple minded folk to speak our mind.
Truth....did you really say that with a straight face...
Freedom....that is what i exersice by writing my imperfect thoughts on this site....
ps....the fact that you compared with me Arianna fills me with unmeasurable pleasure..
the rest about hacking? Went over my middle aged.....no time for protest...hard working.....HEAD
"You are a partisan anti-American pinko"
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahahaha! Pinko! I thought the only people who used that anymore were satirists! Are you serious? Oh you're just too precious for words.
Archie Bunker has been REBORN!
Posted April 16, 2008 | 12:49 PM (EST)