The Educated Tea Bag

OK. We already know there are lies, damn lies and statistics. But this week's NY Times/CBS Poll of people who consider themselves part of the Tea Bag movement has generated some particularly bizarre contradictions.

The report summary says: "Fourteen percent of Tea Party supporters have a post-graduate education, compared with 10% for the general public. Twenty-three percent of Tea Party supporters have a college degree, compared with 15% for the general public, according to the poll."

However, the summary also notes, "Although the Constitution requires American presidents to be natural born citizens, as many as 30% of Tea Partiers say they think President Obama was born in another country and another 29% aren't sure." That's a total of 59% in the doubter column.

What colleges and grad schools did these people attend? Has a Tea Bag University been set up without our knowing it?

I can't think of even one post graduate degree holder I know who doesn't believe, or doesn't know if, the President is a natural born citizen. I did know one undergraduate degree holder who had doubts, but a few beers together and the threat of taking a belt sander to his face disabused him of the notion.

62% of Tea Party Activists believe the economy is getting worse in spite of the fact that the stock market has recovered almost 4,500 points since Obama has been in office. And employment figures, while unsteady, are on a definite up trend.

77% have a favorable view of Glen Beck, while 75% have a favorable view of Sarah Palin.

32% believe that violent action against the government is justified. (Maybe we should check THEIR birth certificates. Sound like enemy aliens to me.)

77% get their TV political news from Fox.

What person with a college or graduate degree could possibly name Fox as his or her primary news source? It's like naming Homer Simpson your favorite philosopher, except even Homer is right occasionally.

Of course, a vast majority of the Tea Baggers are "older" Americans, so one must take into account the possibility that their education ceased 50 years ago, or their brains have actually been eroded from all that tube time with Fox.

In Animal House, Flounder is admonished that "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life."

To the Tea Baggers: "Misinformed, angry and scared is no way to spend your twilight years."

Health Care, National Polls, Local Sentiment and Common Sense

The "National Poll" is American political dialogue's red herring factory, pumping out misconceptions, misperceptions, and thoroughly useless information. Pick your favorite poll - whether it's from the left or the right.

Ignore national polls. Especially right now.

Even in the bluest of states, the current reception being given health care reform is modest at best. So, states such as Masachusetts and New York, ol' reliables in the liberal column, may "only" be in favor 57 to 43%. But in Texas, the anti-reform fever is running at 63 vs. 37%.

When you combine Mass. and NY states' opinion with that of Texas you get an overall 47% approval of reform with 53% against. Sounds damning.

This sort of scenario is playing out across all the states, and like national presidential polls these have no real bearing on legislation or future prospects.

We are a republic, not a direct democracy.

It makes no difference if a Democrat wins a district by 1,000 votes in New York State while a Republican wins a Texas district by 50,000 votes. They both go to Congress as equal members. At the moment both represent 650,000 citizens.*

The media are doing a disservice by not particularizing such splits and explaining the meaning of them. And politicians - especially the masters of misinformation on the right wing - are seized by tics, hiccups and a case of the whoops every time a national poll shifts one way or another.

On top of this, a more thorough set of polls would parse out the number of people who position themselves on points farther left in the Democratic Party who are dissatisfied with the outcome of health care reform. They, too, are unhappy, no doubt because of the loss of a public option, and perhaps are communicating their feelings by "disapproving" of the bill.

*Interestingly, of Texas's 32 House seats, 13 are held by Democrats. Of the combined 39 seats of the New York and Massachusetts delegations, 37 are held by Democrats.

...