Opinions are split.
Matt Nisbett think it is bad here, here and here.
Sara Robinson thinks it was good here and here.
Although I have no great love for Bill Clinton, I am siding with Sara here (read her posts to see why), just on gut feeling. But also, check out this AOL poll (never known to be a bastion of liberalism):
Who do you find more convincing?
Clinton 62%
Rice 38%
Total Votes: 67,769
Do you blame either administration for failing to prevent 9/11?
Yes, the Bush administration 39%
Yes, the Clinton administration 22%
Yes, both administrations 22%
No 16%
Total Votes: 69,827
What's your impression of Clinton in this interview?
Mostly positive 62%
Mostly negative 38%
Total Votes: 45,960
What's your impression of Wallace in this interview?
Mostly negative 61%
Mostly positive 39%
Total Votes: 44,447
How fairly do you think journalists treat politicians?
Somewhat 52%
Not at all 40%
Very 8%
Total Votes: 42,719
How fairly do you think politicians treat journalists?
Somewhat 60%
Not at all 23%
Very 17%
Total Votes: 42,332
This suggests that Sara is more right than Matt, methinks.
Comments
Just a correction: the journalist was named Chris Wallace, not Mike.
Posted by: Dirk | September 27, 2006 9:53 AM
The key figure in these polls is 38%:
38% found Rice more convincing.
38% viewed Clinton negatively.
38% (plus 1% from Florida that punched the wrong chad) saw Wallace favorably.
And the cous de grax, 38% (the 22% that blame Clinton + the 16% that blame neither) do NOT blame Bush for 9/11.
So what this poll tells us is that 38% of the population and voters are going to support Bush and the Republicans no matter what. And that's 100% scary.
Posted by: MarkP | September 27, 2006 12:15 PM
Those are th 38% if "hard authoritarians' that we will never ever woe to our side so trying to appease them is useless. Read Sara's series on how to woe "soft authoritarians" instead.
Posted by: coturnix | September 27, 2006 1:34 PM
All of today's posts were written and scheduled late last night, hence the errors....sorry.
Posted by: coturnix | September 27, 2006 1:45 PM
That number is also roughly equal to Bush's Approval ratings for the past year or so. The hard base was predicted at 27% at Kung-Fu Monkey a while back, and I think it holds up.
Posted by: Left_Wing_Fox | September 27, 2006 3:42 PM