Today's magic number must be 26 -- as in 26 percent.
Because as if you ever needed proof that 26 percent of America -- that would be one out of every four people you see walking down the street, plus someone else's right ankle -- is totally bat-guano out-of-their-freakin'-minds crazy, check out this new poll just out:
The poll asked this question: "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" The overall top-line is legitimately won, 62%, ACORN stole it, 26%.
Interestingly, it pairs nicely with this:
Respondents were asked: "When the president of the United States is traveling overseas, do you think it is appropriate for him to bow to a foreign leader if that is the country's custom or is it never appropriate for the president to bow to another leader?"
The numbers: Appropriate, 67%, Never appropriate, 26%. Even a majority of Republican respondents were okay with the bow, by a 53%-40% margin. Democrats weigh in at 84%-9%, and independents 62%-30%.
Now, how much do you wanna bet that those 26 percent in those two polls are exactly the same people! These are people who might as well walk the earth in a bubble made of plastic and little speakers blaring Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh 24 hours a day. People who will buy into any two-bit conspiracy theory that gets repeated enough -- remember that a) Obama won the 2008 election by 9.8 million popular votes and b) the known number of actual known fraudulent votes cast because of the voter registration crimes by ACORN workers who got paid for name like Mickey Mouse is zero and c) it's a long way from 0 to 9.8 million. And people who are easily distracted by the shiny object -- like the alleged symbolism of a presidential bow -- that will always lead the Drudge Report over the real issues of the day.
Now, 26 percent of America is indeed a lot of people. There's a bit more than 200 million voting-age Americans right now, so we're talking about more than 52 million red-blooded adults, enough folks to fill 1,000 Citizen Bank Parks with roughly 6 or 7 million more people to spare. Enough to put on a fairly impressive rally on the Mall in Washington if just a tiny percentage of them turned out. But there's another way to express 26 percent, and that would be as "Not 74 Percent," the too-silent majority group in this country that's a bit more inclined towards real commonsense solutions, to use a term that's been misappropriated by a former Alaska governor.
But what if that 26 percent has influence beyond the trivial world of ACORN and presidential bowing? Check out where else these 26 percenters turn up:
When asked what kind of health care bill Congress should pass, 51 percent of Americans said a bill that contains a government-run health insurance plan, or "public option." Sixteen percent said a bill without a public option, while only 26 percent said they want no bill at all. Seven percent did not know or had no answer.
Now that's actually important. By the way, look who else is at 26 percent:
Just 11 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents believe Palin could be an effective president. Overall, 26 percent of Americans say she could be effective in the job.
Of course, you could argue that the 26 Percenters have been around for a few years, going back to the Bush administration:
Six in 10 Americans say the United States should join the Kyoto treaty on global warming, rejecting President Bush's economic arguments against the accord....However, in an ABCNEWS.com poll conducted a week ahead of Earth Day, 61 percent said the United States should join the treaty, while just 26 percent opposed it.
Which may explain this:
President George W. Bush's approval rating dropped to a record low, making him the least popular president since Richard Nixon, according to a new Newsweek poll... Twenty-six percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing, while a record 65 percent disapprove, including almost a third of Republicans, Newsweek said.
Now, I happen to think that 52 million Americans are people who ought to be heard, who have a right to make their views known and to stage protests if they need to. But too often -- aided by a media that tends to give a lot of extra weight to the 26 Percenters, especially when they make for a good story -- we're allowing the tail to wag the dog in these United States of America. This week, for example, we may learn that a handful of senators thwarts the electorate's expressed desire for a health care bill, because of fear of this 26 percent.
It's true -- as more and more conservatives started pointing out around, oh, around 2006 or so, that this nation is a republic and not a straight democracy. Legislators are elected to weigh what's most popular along with what is legal and also with what they think is morally right.
But when all is said and done, we need leaders who will fight like hell for the dreams of the 74 percent of America, not ones who kowtow to the sometimes paranoid fears of the 26 percent. That would be what I would call our 26 Percent Solution.
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That number is also generally consistent with President Bush's approval rating as he crashed his flaming Presidency into my retirement accounts. See e.g. http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.htm Only somebody in the unshakable 26 percent group could possibly be so painfully ignorant and brainwashed not to see what had happened.
Why is that 26 percent number important? Ask Senator McCain. http://bit.ly/7lN31k
With that intractable 26% base ready to destroy the traditional Republican Party at every turn (and with plenty of time and money to do it), it only matters that Democratic candidates must take care to not let their vote-winning popularity drop to about one half of 74 percent, which is 37 percent. At 37% Democrats might get picked off by the Republican candidates. Anything higher than 37 percent popularity for a Democrat on voting day means that the 26-percent crowd will be winless, and they will have dragged the Republican candidate down.
FAIRNESS FOR THE LEFT IS TO SILENCE ALL CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOWS.
FAIRNESS IS THEY CONTROL THE NEWS MEDIA, NEWS PAPERS, TELEVISION ARE CONTROLLED BY THE LEFT.
CONSERVATIVE HAS RADIO, AND FOX.......... WE ARE THE ONES WHO BE SHOUTING ABOUT A FAIRNESS DOCTRINE FOR THE RIGHT.
JUST PROVES THAT NO MATTER HOW THE LEFT CONTROLS MOST OF THE MEDIA THEY ARE STILL WHINNINGGGGGGGG
The twenty-six percent are so noisy because they are the unwitting minions of international corporations who fund them generously. Rupert Murdoch, for instance, is a big help. Oh, sure we have MSNBC, but the difference between the Liberals at MSNBC and Fox is that the Liberals have shame.
A real brinkmanship move on Obama's part would be to now concentrate on getting the money/lobbyists out of Washington. How about making national elections publicly funded? How about requiring media to donate a place for debate? Like every other civilized country, we could easily make our politics earnest and unprofitable.
Because... you have just got to ask how someone like Dick Cheney, who worked as a public servant for his whole entire life except for a few years running Halliburton, ends as a billionaire.
Even the Clintons, both of them, worked almost their whole lives in politics and are now worth millions. This is just so wrong. Our government is a corrupt old pudding from all the money. Most of us just blindly accept that Cheney is a rich man. That Bill Clinton is a rich man. Why?
Ideology might be defined as picking an extreme idea and then defending it come what may. Most people.... the middle... the center... cannot be bothered. It's sort of sweet. Most people just want to live their lives, raise their kids, drink their beer, go on vacation and be left alone.
The only way to involve this center is to have things go really sideways. That when the right and left show up to scream "we told you so" as they say opposite things. The placid center is then furious at both extremes and are too befuddled to figure out which side is correct in their analysis. I personally think the Left is more humane, but right-wing minions don't see it because we don't care enough about gods or something.
FACTS CAN'T BE DENIED, KEEP ON BELIEVING IN THAT HOPE AND CHANGE, AND THE PALOSI AND REID AGENDA. PERHAPS YOU WILL JOIN THE NEXT MARCH TO DC TO GET SOME STRAIGHT ANSWERS.
2ND WW.
And stop typing in capital letters. It makes you look more obnoxious than you already are.
No country has a monopoly on crazy but I think between birthers, tea parties, Beck , Limbaugh and Palin. Has given people like myself a reason to think we Canadians might be on the dull side but at least we don't put crazy on parade almost daily.
Oddly, those same 26% were just fine with plunging the country into hundreds of billions of dollars of debt in order to give George W Bush the opportunity, on the bodies of thousands of dead, to be a WARTIME PRESIDENT.
Do they think that waging war is free??
Do they think that it's just fine that war profiteers like Cheney, Bush and their ilk have made out like bandits for the past eight years as a result of their lust for war??
How exactly do those 26% think tax dollars should be spent, if not for services like healthcare that are absolutely necessary to build a healthy population and by extension a healthy, thriving economy???
Nothing is free, ladies and gentlemen. But, if you are paying taxes, you are entitled to a return for those taxes in the form of services, like education, healthcare, public maintenence of roads and public buildings like schools and hospitals.
Billions of dollars have been spent to do that in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the blood of thousands of people, both Americans AND Iraqis AND Afghans.
To what end???
26% DID NOT PLUNGE US INTO WAR, DO YOU REMEMBER THE TOWERS 2,900 PLUS PEOPLE DIED FROM AN ATTACK BY BIN LADIN.
THE ENTIRE WORLD BELIEVED SADAM HAD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, OUR CONGRESS SENT US INTO IRAQ.
FREEDOM, AND THE SAFETY OF OUR COUNTRY IS A RESPONSIBILITY OF OUR
PRESIDENT.
NO ONE WANTS TO GO TO WAR, BUT SOMETIMES WAR IS NECESSARY.
OUR COUNTRY WOULD NOT BE WHAT IT IS WITHOUT A WAR.
OBAMA IS NOW SENDING, AND HAS SENT TROOPS INTO WAR.
IS HE AMONG THE 26% ??????