Perhaps the president saw these very figures between Friday and Saturday himself, and thus offered his more nuanced and disappointing-to-some comments from the gulf. Perhaps not. Either way, the question Fox asked is an appropriate one, and its results offer a fuller picture of public opinion than the more sweeping “two-thirds-disagree” narrative taking hold.
In an issue as charged as this is becoming, it is important to keep the picture as full and nuanced as possible. We would encourage those wanting to use public opinion statistics in this story not to neglect the Fox poll’s results.
The problem with this searching-for-the-silver-lining piece on Obama's behalf is that the president's second 'disappointing-to-some' comment (disappointing to whom?) came, Rand Paul-like, after the uproar over the first.
How many times has the president had to 'clarify' some earlier statement now and paddle toward the middle of public opinion? CJR apparently isn't interested in keeping count - as if people won't notice things as long as the orthodox news media does not report on them explicitly.
#1 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Wed 18 Aug 2010 at 12:33 PM