Polls show the David Kay admission has really registered.

[Brotherjohn]

The (admittedly unscientific) online Newsweek/MSNBC poll on the subject shows that a vast majority (71%-22%) believe that the "White House knowingly misrepresented intelligence on Iraq" and that "Bush and Cheney knew the intelligence was wrong". (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4123507 , scroll down)

Even my little conservative, southern town has a poll with the number being 59%-41% (http://weartv.com/ , click the "Extra" logo). A closer result, but the question was phrased pretty harshly: "Do you believe the Bush administration deceived Americans about the need to invade Iraq?" They're basically asking if we were deceived into an unnecessary war.

I think people always held out hope that they weren't being duped, that Bush knew something they didn't. Although many have been saying for months that Bush exaggerated the case for war, one could always, in the past, dismiss this as being from the leftist fringe or from partisan opponents of Bush (and many people did dismiss this criticism). But with the David Kay admission, which cannot be likewise dismissed, the American people have been forced to come face to face with the reality that this war was a mistake.

This does not bode well for Bush.

[never cry wolf]

1. This is great news, blindfolds being pulled off

There is also O'Neil's revelations that were aired prime time on 60 minutes as well.

[11cents]

2. Online polls aren't just "unscientific"

They're meaningless. Really, they are. They used to skew very far rightwards; now they tend to go leftwards. This isn't because the country used to far to the right and is now far to the left. It's because there is now left-wing "freeping" going on. As a measurement of Internet mobilization this may have some significance, I guess, but as a measure of real public opinion it means zilch.

[Brotherjohn]

3. I agree that more left-leaning "freeping" goes on now, but...

... these very same online polls have progressively drifted more towards "Yes" answers on those questions and similar ones in the last few months and even weeks.

I'd be more inclined to attribute that to the continued lack of WMD as time passes than to a sudden shift in direction of "freeping" (although I don't deny that that shift has occurred over some time as the left has gotten wiser to the technique). In addition, scientific polls have also shown a consistent decrease in the number of people who thought the war was worth it, and an increase the number of people who thought that the Bush administration misled, either intentionally or unintentionally. (http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm)

Besides, the "discovery" of freeping by the left has not caused the right to cease the practice, nor is the left any better at it than the right. All else being equal, this should have the effect of equalling out online poll results. When rendering the results more unequal, I'd guess that, in these cases, polls might be more freeped in one direction because the other is less enthusiastic about the question. Given the evidence at hand today, I can understand why the left would be more enthusiastic (and the right, less) about weighing in on this matter.

[Toots]

4. As long as articles are written about them they are not meaningless

:shrug: Articles are being written and those articles are being read. Unless you believe all articles are meaningless also I will disagree with your statement.

[11cents]

5. How often are articles written about *online* polls?

Rarely, and this is as it should be. At any rate, no matter how many articles are written about them, they're still meaningless as indicators of public opinion. We've all had occasion to see, in the last few months, that Internet opinion != public opinion.