Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Two Soldiers Shot Outside Of Recruiting Station...1 Dead, 1 Seriously Injured | Main | Bill O'Reilly Implicated in Murder »
June 01, 2009

Rasmussen: Only 31% Say Spendulus Helped the Economy

27% say it hurt the economy. 31% said it had no effect. So 58% think Obama's signature plan did nothing to improve things or actually made them worse.

Not surprisingly, 62% think that Bush is responsible for the current economic situation, and only 27% think that Obama is. 10% say they don't know who is more responsible.

On that last thing: The question is badly phrased. The first two suggestions seem to suggest the question is just getting at who has any responsibility at all, while the "more responsible" phraseology then suggests we're asking about comparative blame. Here's the actual question, hinting at both:

1* Some people say the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession which began under the Bush Administration. Others say the problems are being caused more by the policies President Obama has put in place since taking office. Which point of view comes closest to your own?

62% Economic problems are due to the recession that began under Bush
27% Economic problems are caused by policies President Obama has put in place
10% Not sure

See what I mean? The question can't decide if it's asking which president has any responsibility for the current economic situation or who is more responsible for it. The Bush prong of the question asks if the Bush recession is "responsible," at all, for the, um, current recession, whereas the Obama prong asks if his policies are more responsible.

Of course Bush is partly responsible for the current recession. He may even be "more responsible" than Obama -- Obama's policies are ruinous, but prospectively so; we're only beginning to see their bad effects on the economy.

If you're going to ask who is responsible, period, do so, but don't be surprised when you get a boring answer like 90% saying "both." If you're going to ask who is more responsible -- well, do that. Cleanly.

But even that question, properly asked, wouldn't be very useful for predicting the future public mood.

Bush is out of office and Obama is President. That means that even if Obama is merely, say, 10% responsible, while Bush is responsible for the other 90%, the fact is that Obama is currently the guy with the job, making the decisions, and Bush is retired in Crawford. The fact that Bush might be to more responsible for the current problems doesn't change the fact that Obama is the one actually, legally responsible for fixing them (and not creating more of them).

Here's an analogy: Two men commit a crime. One man is more responsible for it than the other. But both have some responsibility. The man who's more responsible flees the country, leaving the other man alone in the dock.

Whether the other guy is "more responsible" or not doesn't really change the fact that the guy on trial is responsible and will answer for his actions.

Point being: This is a confused question. Further, it doesn't really tell us anything unexpected or very important. It's not unexpected because Obama's only been in office 140 days or so and did in fact inherit a recession.

Ultimately, he's the guy tasked with ending that recession, whatever his blame for having created it. "The other guy left me a big mess" is a useful defense for poor job performance, but it does have a limited duration.



digg this
posted by Ace at 01:44 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
weft cut-loop[/i][/b] [/s]: "[]i[Some statins cause both short term and long te ..."

torabora : "Pro-choice Democrat marylin lands gives anti-abort ..."

Ciampino - Was I going upstair when called?s or downstairs: "426 Posted by: Braenyard at March 28, 2024 01:09 ..."

Braenyard: "I'm overtime, y'all have a good evening. ..."

RickZ: "[i]Didn't think Kennedy would pick someone that nu ..."

mikeski: "[i]Pete Buttgiggity to sport a smug look on his fa ..."

mikeski: "[i]The original Siamese Twins, the Bunker twins, w ..."

Ciampino - Tabasco to the fartclam: "515 And some national fake day, a Tranny Day of W ..."

Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come: "[i]509 Ramadan lights will be on display in centra ..."

raimondo: " Pro-choice Democrat marylin lands gives anti-abor ..."

Braenyard: "Didn't think Kennedy would pick someone that nuts. ..."

Ciampino - Another communist?: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. VP pick Nicole Shanahan help ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64