Latest Rasmussen survey shows a bit of good, solid sense among the American people:
Just 18% of American voters believe that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 66% disagree and say Iran has not stopped its nuclear weapons program. Twenty-one percent (21%) of men believe Iran has stopped the weapons development along with 16% of women.
The 18% we can classify as the real hard core of the kook left, just to keep things clear. I mean, you’ve got to be rather obtuse to really think that Iran has stopped its nuke program – its one thing to be an intel guy saying, “I don’t have proof”, quite another to essentially take the word of the lunatics who run Iran. I feel very confident that the 66% who believe Iran is making nuclear weapons will be confirmed in their belief…I just hope the confirmation doesn’t come in the form of a nuclear test in Iran, or a nuke set off in Tel Aviv.
Blogs For Victory 
Casper,
…the agencies are headed by Bush appointees…
According to one report I heard, the senior persons involved in writing the positive report about Iran are opposed to President Bush! They would have their own secret and subtle agenda!
The report could just as easily have been worded the other way!!!
AAR
true enough AAR people are horribly disappointed with congress. However, they are just as unhappy with republicans in congress as they are with democrats:
http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_dem.htm
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http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_rep.htm
Hates Cows–Male, and AAR,
From Wikipedia;
“National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) are United States federal government documents that are the authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on intelligence related to a “particular national security issue. NIEs are produced by the National Intelligence Council and express the coordinated judgments of the United States Intelligence Community, the group of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. NIEs are classified documents prepared for policymakers.”
I never said that the NIE was written by Bush appointees. What I said was it was signed off on by the heads of the various agencies, who are Bush appointees. It is a consensus document. If it was written by people who oppose Bush for the purpose of embarrassing Bush, why would his appointees sign off on it?
“Well, Casspurr, we all know that you’re not included in that 20%, being that you’re no more than a waffling puss. Have you changed parties yet, kook?”
If by waffling puss, you mean that I don’t worship either Bush or Clinton, l will take that as a compliment. As far as changing parties, I am now an Independent.
BTW, I purposely make mistakes on my writing in the classroom, then reward the students that find and correct them. I find they pay a lot more attention to what I’m writing by doing that. Since I know how much joy you get in finding my mistakes, I will continue to make them from time to time. You can thank me later.
Thank you Dubya for disarming North Korea, Iraq and now Iran. The Kooks are having a difficult time spinning this one.
Almiranta: But this is a simple question about whether or not people believe one simple report.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Rasmussen didn’t poll people to find out how many of them were actually aware of the NIE report, never mind read the damned thing or whether they changed their mind on the basis of it. In fact, it would be rather interesting to know how many people HERE have (a) actually read the damned thing, and (b) did so before they started pontificating on it. By the way, if you’re interested, it’s posted on the front page of http://www.dni.gov.
Getting back to the question of whether anyone is likely to dramatically change their mind on the basis of it… I doubt it. After all, it’s not a panacea for the black and white thinkers (what I like to call the “snow drift” thinkers) on either side. I mean right off the top the report states: “A. We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program; we also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons.” So, they are saying the same thing as the 2005 assessment did: they judge with high confidence that Iran does have a nuclear program (something they have steadfastly denied) but they have “halted” it for the time being. But they HAVE NOT dismantled it. The 2005 report also estimated that they were unlikely to be able to produce a bomb before the end of the decade. This current report says the same thing. This new report does push back the most likely time line a bit. But even so, that doesn’t change anything for me. Perhaps the only thing I found more encouraging about the present report relative to the 2005 report is this: “We judge with high confidence that the halt, and Tehran’s announcement of its decision to suspend its declared uranium enrichment program and sign an Additional Protocol to its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement, was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure resulting from exposure of Iran’s previously undeclared nuclear work.” In other words, there are strong indications that “pressure”, in the form of diplomacy, sanctions — and yes Kahn, a whole bunch of warships floating aroung in the Gulf — works. That’s not exactly a surprise perhaps — it is, after all, the same kind of thing that has worked in the past with South Africa, Libya, North Korea (both in 1994 and now), and even Iraq — but it is reassuring. It is not, however, a panacea.
Almiranta is right that: at least insofar as the people here are concerned, it is indeed interesting to listen to people’s reactions to the poll and compare those responses to what they had to say about other polls. It’s pretty clear that many people are willing to take any piece of evidence and find a way to fit it into their preconceived notions without even attempting to critically evaluate them.
You guys are insane! This reminds me of when your blog said that Democrats were “out of step” with the American people since MOST Americans believe in Creationism. I suggested at the time that it would be a lot easier to just put all scientific hypotheses up for vote! Clearly, most Americans don’t think that mass increases as time slows as objects speed up, so Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is false. Likewise, most Americans don’t believe that a particle can exist in two places at once, so Quantum Mechanics also can’t be true! Furthermore, the VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS believe that Bush is one of the worst presidents ever! Well, okay. . . they may be right on THAT one ; )
But, wait! What information does 82% of the American people have upon which to base their knowledge of Iranian nukes? I was not aware that most Americans are expert on the subject. Should every country run their foreign policy based upon what their citizens ‘know’? What percentage of the middle eastern citizens have a negative impression of the US? According to a Zogby poll, 80% think that the US is out to take over the entire middle east! Furthermore, Bush’s policies have not helped how Europeans view us- more Europeans think that the US is a danger to the world than Iran!
I know that Republicans have a dislike of facts and science, but I think it’s dangerous to base foreign policy on opinion polls. As much of a disconnect as it is for you (after being fed Neocon propaganda for years), there is a REAL likelyhood that 16 Intelligence Agencies which wrote this report have evidence for the conclusion. Moreover, Bush and Cheney have known about this for months and EVEN THEY aren’t questioning the conclusions!
But, I notice a pattern where you cite polls that you agree with (even when they are as absurd as this poll and the Creationism poll!) but discount every poll you DON’T AGREE WITH! FWIW, I recently did a ‘poll’ amongst my 8 REPUBLICAN friends and ALL OF THEM would vote for Bill Clinton over GW Bush in a HEARTBEAT! Oh yeah, 5 of these REPUBLICANS are thinking about voting for the Democratic nominee in 2008!
So, keep up with the wingnut insanity! There has not been ANYTHING better for the Democratic party than GW Bush and his inept incompetence!
LibT – well maybe people would like Bush better if they understood that he (as you argue) removed a tyrant in the middle east and as a result three nations stopped their nuclear weapons programs. That he actually used three different techniques blending threats, intelligence, and promises. That he worked with coalitions of other nations. In one case, the coalition included Russia and China!!!!!
You libs really can’t see that? How brainwashed are you?
Kahn: That he actually used three different techniques blending threats, intelligence, and promises. That he worked with coalitions of other nations. In one case, the coalition included Russia and China!!!!!
Well, at least you’re beginning to recognize (or at least voice) some level of nuance. So the next quesion is… were these coalitions organized because of Bush or in spite of him? I suspect that if you really look into each question, both individually and collectively, your answer is likely to be… it depends. It depends on the issue and its history, on how that issue impacts others, on the time-frame of which you speak, and the other players involved, both then and now.
Funny how France and Germany are still calling Iran a threat. But the leftist trolls seem to think that they aren’t. And they want to run the country?
phnx,
“Funny how France and Germany are still calling Iran a threat.”
Funny how things change. As I remember it, a lot of Americans were pretty mad at the French and the Germans for not joining us in our invasion of Iraq.
That said, who on this thread stated that Iran is no longer a threat? If you read the NIE, you will find that our Intelligence Agencies still consider Iran a threat. And it is. It’s just not a nuclear threat at this time.
I love how you think that you know more than 16 Intelligence agencies… Not like they have access to more information than you do or anything…
It’s not just that, it’s that the Hardly Boys of the wingnutosphere have used their raging clues to uncover the massive conspiracy that all 16 agencies are engaged in. It’s all a conspiracy to make Bush look bad! Yeah, that’s it!