I refer back to my original statment...
And rest my case....
Let's break this down, shall we?
You make these comments:
I'm curious... Doesn't anyone find it a little spurious that blogs report information, but don't actually offer a link to the source material?
I'm guessing that if we (could) take a poll where respondents couldn't lie, the vast majority of people reading the link in the OP didn't go to the source (the Pew) survey.
Since you like to parse words, I wouldn't characterize The Daily Caller as a blog. It appears to be an online news source, though I'm not any sort of authority on this point. You might call Munro's article a blog, but I'd call it an straight ahead article simply because he's reporting on the Pew Survey -- not espousing an opinion.
But to cut to the chase before getting into the meat of the matter, your post, on its face, is trolling behavior because you flat-out generalize that "the vast majority of people reading the link in the OP didn't go to the source (the Pew) survey." Project much?
You make this outrageous, inflammatory claim, insinuating that most, if not all, of the posters on this thread are a bunch of mindless idiots. Strike One.
But let's go on.
You show you can't find your ass with a road map when you make this statement:
I didn't find anything in the survey that offered the following conclusions:
The Pew survey adds to a wave of surveys and studies showing that GOP-sympathizers are better informed, more intellectually consistent, more open-minded, more empathetic and more receptive to criticism than their fellow Americans who support the Democratic Party.
And then you further show your blindness/laziness when you offer this:
A wave of studies? What studies, why not link them so we can read them?
Where does the Pew poll suggest that "GOP supporters are better educated (a claim made later in the article), more empathetic and more open to criticism"? What are the other reports and studies that suggest these things.....
Within the Pew survey, there is this, which I quoted in response to you:
Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge. The largest gaps are in awareness of which party is more supportive of reducing the size and scope of the federal government (30 points) and which party is more conservative (28 points).
Republicans also are 21 percentage points more likely than Democrats to know that the GOP is more supportive of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
There is only one policy question – which party is more supportive of cutting defense spending – on which Democrats are more knowledgeable than Republicans. Two-thirds of Democrats (67%) identify the Democratic Party as being more supportive of reducing the size of the defense budget, compared with 59% of Republicans.
On the remaining issues – expanding the rights of gays and lesbians, increasing taxes on the wealthy, restricting abortion and providing immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally with a possible “path to citizenshipâ€â€“ there are no significant differences in knowledge between Democrats and Republicans.
I'm getting the sense that you're a word parser. Like most arrogant narcissists like your hero Barry, you like to jump on fine points and act butthurt when you're actually expected to draw a conclusion based on
inference.
One might infer, for example, that "GOP supporters are better educated" simply because of the statement "Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge."
It's an inference or a conclusion based on the results of the survey. Does it actually state that? No. But then, this isn't a court of law. It's a discussion forum. Strike Two.
But let's go on, shall we?
You whined about this:
However, Pew’s data suggests that the Democrats’ low average rating likely is a consequence of its bipolar political coalition, which combines well-credentialed post-graduate progressives who score well in quizzes with a much larger number of poorly educated supporters, who score badly.
by stating:
While not entirely dishonest, the phrase "Pew’s data suggests..." makes it sound like these conclusions were drawn by Pew and not the author who is just espousing his own opinion.
Again, I question your reading comprehension skills, because the author makes the statement "Pew's data suggest..." How could anyone POSSIBLY conclude that Pew is drawing those conclusions? You're reading Munro's article, not the Pew Survey - or did you forget that little item?
But then you arrogantly go on with your final smear:
If I had to identify just one problem that has contributed to the disconnect in politics and the people, it's the fact that media misleads people (though almost always in a way that's plausibly deniable). Please note that the point of my post is not to refute the claims of "The Daily Caller", though, honestly I would refute several points....But again, that's not the focus of my reply....It's to point out that everyone has a political agenda and that everyone should question everything they read.
Here's a news flash, genius - the media's JOB is to mislead people. And they're quite good at it. Oh, they'll tell you that they take the moral high ground and a freshman journalism major will soak up the bullshit "the media reports the facts and allows the people to decide", but if you've been around longer than 20 minutes, you know it's bullshit. The media will make an editorial attempt to steer you toward their POV. Every time. It happens on the left, and it happens on the right. Strike Three.
So again, what's your point? (That's a rhetorical question.)
Your point is, you waltzed into this thread to stir shit. That's the classic definition of a troll - and I'm calling you on it.
Bitchslapped for trolling.