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| Fifth Column | |
| ABC News says 100% of the troops will vote Democrat | |
| 2008-04-08 | |
Zogby's got a poll that says the same thing. Didn't know how to cut this one down. Sorry boys.
PFC Jeremy Slate said he supported Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., because of his stated intention to pull out of Iraq right away. "That would be nice," Slate said, "I'd like to be home, yea." SFC Patricia Keller also expressed support for Obama, citing his representation for change. Spc. Patrick Nicholls from Eggawam, Mass., pointed out that many soldiers on the frontlines frequently think about their families back home. "We think about how our families are doing back home. That's a major concern, like how the economy is doing, also as well as where we're going to be in the future. Because really, truly, what we consider we're doing, we're doing a valuable job, we want to make sure that the efforts we make are appreciated." He suggested he was too engaged in Iraq to keep up with politics back home. "I haven't really been following it too much since we've been over here, ma'am," he told Raddatz. "So, don't really know which issues are too important to me right now. ... I don't know who's running, ma'am." Lt. Leah Wicks said that, tied into concerns about her family's welfare, were concerns about the economy, "where we're going to be in the future." Only moments before speaking with ABC News, the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech, but it didn't change their political preference. Spc. Imus Loto said he supported Obama. "It will be something different. But he's out there and he'll probably support us a lot more." By support, Loto meant pulling out troops. "Pull me out, too." he said. Though the military is generally a more conservative group, soldiers like Sgt. Justin Sarbaum are just as eager for a pull-out as the Democratic candidates. Sarbaum said he wondered which presidential candidate would be able to better the U.S. relationship with rogue nations, such as Iran, so that soldiers are not sent off to another war. "Iran is obviously a big issue," Sarbaum said, "Here in Iraq for my third time; starting another war right now is it really necessary?" Sgt. Cory Messingham from Lewisville, Texas, said he wasn't following the race, but he was concerned about candidates' paying attention to the emotional toll that the war has taken on soldiers. "My biggest issue is support for the military, military funding and our deployments, not having long deployments anymore. Because [the] majority of us are doing ...15-month deployments. So, it's tough on the soldiers and tough on the soldiers' families. Those are really my biggest issues." 1st Sgt. David Logan said, "I am leaning toward Hillary. I think that we should have a gradual drawdown." Though the soldiers have been living in Iraq, they listen closely to the candidates on issues far beyond the wars they are fighting. "Education back in the states is one of my main concerns," Spc. Matthew Durkin said. Economy and environment were on Staff Sgt. Derek Dion's mind. "Things like gas prices, and look at the environment and what we're going to leave our children." Spc. Joseph Lindsesdt, who is from Alaska, said he was watching for consistency of the candidates' views. "The steadiness of the candidate, whether they've changed their views, constantly, over time, or with political wind, as I like to put it." To that end, Lindsesdt's pick is Obama. "The fact that he's followed his views, regardless of what they have been [sic] and whether I've agreed with them or not, sometimes. But he's been steady the entire way." When asked if he was concerned about criticism that Obama had less political experience than some of the other candidates, the battle-weary soldier replied, "No, I think being a decent leader doesn't have to do anything with experience much." | |
| Posted by:DK70 |
| #34 Deliberate sampling error. AKA "stacking the deck" and being one sided. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-08 23:05 |
| #33 More like a flat-out mess-wit-Raddatz's-mind... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-04-08 21:03 |
| #32 "Some sort of sampling error perhaps?" No, OS - just a flat-out LIE. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-08 19:11 |
| #31 I'm glad this poll came out. Now, perhaps the Democrats won't try to disenfranchise the military like they did in 2000 and 2004. Though the actual election results may come as a surprise. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-04-08 18:47 |
| #30 I rememebr the same shit four years ago. The story then was that the military would vote for a "True Hero" in JF Kerry rather than a "AWOL pilot" like Bush. I think the split was 75% Bush 25% Kerry. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2008-04-08 15:55 |
| #29 Ther's an article a few pages back stating the Army is about 98% Republican, I call Bullshit. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-04-08 15:22 |
| #28 dear OtSC: never in a bazillion years. neither him nor his arch rival Billary! please go peddle your crap someplace else. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-04-08 14:01 |
| #27 Maybe that's it - ABC knows the 'fix is in' for the military vote so they can just make this shit up to try to influence the civilian public that the war is hopeless and lost and they may as well vote for Obama or Clinton.... Looks to me like ABC News is still in the dark ages of Cronkite where they can say whatever the f-k they want and the public will swallow it whole. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-04-08 12:47 |
| #26 If you're going to make shit up, don't go so far that it becomes completely unbelievable. A 10% shift would be a huge thing. But 100%? Even Saddam and Castro never got 100% in their rigged elections. There isn't any group that votes 100% one way or the other. The most infamously solid block is blacks, who routinely give the Dems 90% of their vote. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2008-04-08 12:28 |
| #25 Pure "F"ing editing. The Copperheads come to mind. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-04-08 12:24 |
| #24 100%? We know that is BS because we all personally know troops who have stated they will vote for McCain. |
| Posted by: Woodrow Slusorong7967 2008-04-08 12:18 |
| #23 I made up the Zogby bit but it really is easy to believe. However, I suspect that even Rantburgers will be hard pressed to ignore the Siren call of Obamamania. |
| Posted by: Omusosh the Scantily Clad7177 2008-04-08 12:10 |
| #22 There might be some truth to the dissatisfaction but I doubt that would translate into voting. Thing is, the way I understand it most military people understand and support the mission in Iraq but the frequent tours are just too hard on families. Rummie really screwed up by not increasing the size of the military after Sept 11, doing whatever it took to increase the number of folks rotating in so it wasn't every other year for some of these people. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-04-08 12:00 |
| #21 My mind ain't working too well this a.m. "at ABC after this election season..." |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-04-08 10:40 |
| #20 ABC's slogan: "The best made up news that money can buy." Ima thinkin there is a job for Hillary after this at ABC election season, that is after they pull her kicking and screaming from the dhimmicrat convention. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-04-08 10:38 |
| #19 You have to consider the source. This is CBS we are talking about here, not a legitimate news source. CBS is pretty much nothing more than a Democrat party propaganda machine. Remember the recent 60 Minutes stuff? I wouldn't worry about it. Besides, nobody in Iraq is probably ever going to see it anyway. I am ex military, I would never vote Democrat. I was in the Army during the Carter administration and saw the dramatic improvement when Reagan came in. I worked for a defense contractor during Clinton's years. I will take a Republican any day. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-04-08 10:21 |
| #18 In 2004, 73 percent of the U.S. military voted for a presidential candidate, and officials believe it may be even higher this time around. That statistic I do believe. As I recall, in the last several elections, about 25% of military votes were for Democrats, most of the remainder were Republican, with a sprinkling of Libertarians. As for the rest of the article, most of the troops quoted did not say who they would vote for. Of those who did, one planned to vote for Clinton, the rest for Obama. Being concerned about change, troop morale, or the economy does not mean the speaker will definitely vote Democrat -- that they have put themselves in a war zone strongly suggests they consider the war to be a higher priority, which is the McCain position. Mr. Zogby and Ms. Raddatz are either fools or manipulators. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-08 09:29 |
| #17 smn, you are full of shit with that "bullet in the back" "Fallujah" line of crap straight from the shcizophrenic minds at Daily Kos. Pick up some new talking points boy. The primary threat now are the indirect fire and IEDs as it has been for quite a while. And the kind of people I run with, and went to war with, infantrymen, cav troopers, Marines, etc: they don't casually lie about stuff like you liberals do. They have something alien to you: Honor. As in "Duty, Honor, Country". Now go away troll, you've been fed - and had your minor ass kicking for the day. Don't make me get serious on you. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-08 09:18 |
| #16 I've never heard of a l00% poll before. I call bullshit on Zogby and ABC. People who know they are going to lose always try to pull the ol Jedi Mind Trick like this shit. I'm with Darth Vader on this one, they must be scared shitless. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-04-08 08:49 |
#15 William Katz comments:Any good editor would have spiked this story unless Raddatz was able to find a balance of opinions to report. Apparently she's so in the tank for Obama that she didn't realize what this story looks like, or just didn't care. I fear this is the kind of journalism that we're going to see as we get into the general-election campaign, and that it will elect Obama. We have an entire army of reporters who went into journalism to "make a difference," and this is the difference they want to make. They are not concerned about the messy issue of details. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-04-08 08:32 |
| #14 the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech Now you know it's BS. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-04-08 08:05 |
| #13 The troops have had 6 years to vote with their feet by not reenlisting. Instead reenlistments are the highest they have ever been in the voluntary Army and Marines that are increasing in size under a barrage of outright lying defeatist "news" media and Democratic propaganda. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-04-08 08:01 |
| #12 Wow. Talk about just blatant propaganda. The liberals must really be scared of November if they are already pushing this shit out. Crap like this usually hits in August. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-04-08 08:00 |
| #11 "Democrats were making strong inroads with a constituency hitherto notoriously resistant to their appeal: the military. Since Gen. Wesley Clark threw his hat in the presidential ring, reporters have chased the "military vote" story, each new media report sprinkled with anecdotes about troops who questioned the Iraq war or... ... who drew trenchant comparisons between the Vietnam combat valor of John Kerry and President Bush. Surely Bush is in trouble. This from the Washington Post in 2004. They never learn. |
| Posted by: Hector 2008-04-08 07:25 |
| #10 Bobby, it is both the custom and direct orders that military limit their involvement in campaigns or public support for candidates. They are encouraged to vote for whomever they choose. But they may not wear a uniform at a rally, be a delegate or work in a campaign in any way. The same is true, with slightly looser rules, for civilian employees of the military. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-04-08 06:40 |
| #9 100% of the military folks in my family are NOT voting democratic. Though the military is not supposed to engage in partisan political activity, ... what's that supposed to mean? They are not allowed to express their personal opinions, so this was a super-secret, straight-from-the-heart confession sort of thing? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-04-08 06:04 |
| #8 Even General David Petraeus? Wow. Yeah, the Military vote usually goes all democrat, which is why Gore's lawyers were all high fiving each other when they blocked the military votes in 2000. This "report" is literally unbelievable; blatantly, transparently and nakedly so. This is right up there in dan rather territory. |
| Posted by: Hector 2008-04-08 06:00 |
| #7 Old spook. Zogby may be a dem supporter, but his most biased polls deal specifically with the Middle East. It may be a family thing, what with the Arab-American Institute being run by family and all. It any case, it is clear that Zogby wants America OUT of the Middle East. |
| Posted by: Hector 2008-04-08 05:47 |
| #6 Face it Oldspook, your 'friends' are lying to you! It's hard for some to reveal their true feelings when the choice falls to a white woman and her conniving husband and a as of yet unproven black man! I may lie myself this fall!! But I would much rather be back at home with egg on my face, than a bullet in my back in the dusty choking back gutter ways of Falluja! |
| Posted by: smn 2008-04-08 03:28 |
| #5 Did he conduct the poll on April Fools Day? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-04-08 01:33 |
| #4 I wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibility that the whole diatribe is simply pulled outta her sphincter. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-04-08 01:14 |
| #3 She probably found lots of Republican supporters, but, since the quotes didn't fit the narrative she wrote before doing the story, she didn't include them. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-04-08 00:46 |
| #2 Gotta question this compared to the peopel I work and serve with. Some sort of sampling error perhaps? Zogby hasn't exactly been known for non-partisan (he's very much a Dem supporter), nor for accuracy nor solid methodology. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-08 00:41 |
| #1 I was just going to post this. I call extreme bullshit. I'm not doubting the quotes, but I find it hard to believe that she couldn't come up with a single McCain voter or someone who felt that winning in Iraq was important. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2008-04-08 00:04 |