“Did Bush Know About the 9/11 Attacks in Advance?” — 35% or more say yes
“Did Bush Know About the 9/11 Attacks in Advance?” That question was asked of 800 likely voters in a Rasmussen poll this week. 35% of Democrat voters answered yes. 29% of women voters answered yes. 18% of white voters, 35% of black voters, and 40% of “Other” racial identification voters answered yes. Our country is not in good shape with voters as uninformed or conspiratorial as illustrated here.
Anecdotal evidence of the sad state of the American polity can be found in the jury selection process in the Jose Padilla case:
A significant number of potential jurors in the Jose Padilla terrorism support case say they aren’t sure who is responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, many because they don’t trust the news media or U.S. government pronouncements. “There are too many ifs, too many things going on,” one male juror said. “I don’t know the whole story.” Others say they just don’t pay close enough attention to world events to be certain. “I’m oblivious to that stuff,” one prospective female juror said during questioning this week. “I don’t watch the news much. I try to avoid it.”..
One female juror agreed that was a “general public consensus” but still held out skepticism. “I don’t have an opinion. I don’t tend to trust the news media,” she said. Many jurors seem to be unwilling to state the al-Qaida connection as fact because they don’t have firsthand knowledge. An older male juror said he answered “al-Qaida and bin Laden” on his questionnaire because “that was what the news said.” “I really can’t say who did it,” said the man...
Thomas Sowell caused a minor flap the other day when he said: ” When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.”
The apparent evaporation of the glue that binds together civil society is deeply troubling, as Professor Sowell says. Indeed, given the statistical results above, you probably can get 35% or more of some groups in America to believe that a military coup has already taken place. (HT’s: GS, Polipundit)