...And
tell me what the poll means.
These are from a poll conducted on July 5, 2007, by the
href="http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/" rel="tag">American
Research Group (sorry, no permalink):
you approve or disapprove of President George W. Bush commuting the
30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby while leaving
intact Mr. Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in
the CIA leak case?
(29%)
completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults
nationwide July 3-5, 2007. The theoretical margin of error is plus or
minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time. Of the total sample, 933
interviews were completed among registered voters.
oppose a complete presidential pardon for Mr. Libby?
(29%)
completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults
nationwide July 3-5, 2007. The theoretical margin of error is plus or
minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time. Of the total
sample, 933 interviews were completed among registered voters.
I am not
asking about Libby, his trial, or the commutation, specifically.
What is striking to me is that the Independents,
as a group, are more likely to oppose both the commutation, and the
possibility of a pardon, when compared to Democrats.
Plus, the Independents are the least likely to be undecided.
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Independent != centrist.
An independent is just a person who chooses not to affiliate with a political party. It's not like the Democrats and Republican represent the full spectrum of American political thought. And some people are just distrustful of hierarchical organizations in general, regardless of politics.
I suspect that most independents tend liberal, or even social-democratic, because people with authoritarian tendencies already have a home in the Republican party.
Regarding Scooter, it shouldn't be surprising that people with the least trust in organized parties would be the most disapproving of cronyism, favoritism, and inequality before the law.
Some Democrats may suffer from a bad conscience in that Bill Clinton was the clear victim of a politically-motivated prosecution. There are echoes of that defence of Clinton in many Republican arguments for Libby and some Democrats may feel it hypocritical to disagree.
It's simple, really. Independents are angrier.
Democrats are more vulnerable to republican propaganda. That's also why Kerry defended himself so poorly against the Swift-Boaters, and why Hillary adopted so many republican positions between 2001 and 2006.
As an independent, I understand -- if I could identify with Republicans or Democrats, I would be one. In many ways, it is hard to see the difference between one party or the other.
Look at the Green Party Values- and you might see what newly registered independents feel - this is my hunch. about the stats and polls - statistics, stats..one of the 3 kinds of lies. Hey it took me 3 times to pass it in college.
But enough about me??
The candidates better wake up - Independent means I want the candidate to listen to WE the people. To represent US and our relationship to them in regards to their Oath of Office, OUR constitution we do not think it is a god damned peice of paper or quaint. yes us, regular Janes,Joes or Joeys of all shades of color, sexual orientation, gender indentity, social/economic status and "citizen" status. Turtle Island owns us, not we it.
In the time remaining between now and the election, the candidates must articulate their platforms - Howard University Needs to hold another debate.
I am a Green, i urge y'all to take a peak at the core values. The "two" parties are one party. Hence the Greens. And newsflash if any of you still blame Nader - i urge u to watch his interview today 7/10/07 with Amy Goodman on Democracynow.org.
There is NO difference between the two parties - Only candidates. I believe Kucinich is very popular among todays increased Indenpents. If you still somehow believe Nader lost it for Gore,..(there was a coup) i urge you to snap out of it, Gore lost it for Gore and the Dems did not help him one bit. or where they Dems. ? Lieberman hello !
One sorry problem is that progressive Indepents get trashed 10 times as hard as conservative ones. but we gotta break this Fascism get the reps out of corporate hands
- clean house in 08.