Dubious Poll Conducted By Democrat Group With Michelle Obama On Its Board Says 83% of Americans are Dissatisfied With U.S. Foreign Policy

Here we have a textbook case in media bias. The Washington Post just essentially prints a release from a group called the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Americans expressed strong support for changes in U.S. foreign policy, with 83 percent saying it is "very important" to improve the standing of the United States in the world, according to a poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Here are other findings:

· Majorities said the U.S. should be ready to talk to Cuba (70 percent), North Korea (68 percent) and Iran (65 percent).

· 67 percent call for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq within two years.

· 68 percent say the U.S. should join the International Criminal Court to try war crimes and other grave offenses.

Gee, basically sounds like Barack Obama and the far left's foreign policy wishes.

Now how convenient this story goes out worldwide without anyone bothering to question the source.

The survey comes as John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, and Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent, prepare to square up on Friday in the first presidential debate. The poll, conducted in July, suggests that most Americans think the US should talk to hostile states – a view more closely aligned with Mr Obama.

Now has any reporter even bothered to check out the Chicago Council on Global Affairs?

Of course not.

Why, look who sits on the board:

Michelle Obama
Vice President for Community and External Affairs, The University of Chicago Medical Center

Hmmm. Might it occur to anyone this poll is, um, maybe just a wee bit biased?

Wait, it gets better.

Conducted by Knowledge Networks from Menlo Park California, the survey was carried out between July 3 and July 15 with a total sample of 1,505 American adults. The margin of error is between plus or minus 3.7 percent and plus or minus 2.5 percent.

Let's overlook for a minute that a poll conducted 10 weeks ago is just released now, but does the name Knowledge Networks rings any bells?

Well, it should. Just the other day they released a poll claiming a third of Democrats are so racist they won't be voting for Obama, using some rather unorthodox polling methods.

The AP-Yahoo News poll used the unique methodology of Knowledge Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that interviews people online after randomly selecting and screening them over telephone. Numerous studies have shown that people are more likely to report embarrassing behavior and unpopular opinions when answering questions on a computer rather than talking to a stranger.

Other techniques used in the poll included recording people's responses to black or white faces flashed on a computer screen, asking participants to rate how well certain adjectives apply to blacks, measuring whether people believe blacks' troubles are their own fault, and simply asking people how much they like or dislike blacks.

Interestingly, Sweetness & Light notes Knowledge Networks has a history of contributing to individuals of a certain party.

Take a wild guess which one.

So here you have a poll taken by a group partisan to Democrats released by a group with the Democrat nominee's wife on its Board of Directors finding results almost exactly in line with the Democrat nominee himself and nobody in the media questions it.

Now, does Barack Obama have the stones to cite this poll during his foreign policy debate with John McCain Friday? We'll see. We already know he has unlimited audacity.

Media bias? What media bias?

On a side note, what's the deal with the new 'do?



Update: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link.

And just so you realize the propaganda value of this poll to our enemies, check out the headline from Iran News Daily on the day that little freak Ahmadinejad was speaking at the UN:

Most Americans Want Dialogue With Iran, N. Korea

Update: A commenter notes the following:

Heh. Took me all of three minutes to figure this one out, but Knowledge Networks was aquired by a company called Austin Chalk Oil Gas Ltd, who in turn is owned in large part by the Washinton Post and Intrepid Capital.

Who owns Intrepid Capital you ask? One George Soros of course.

Hmm. The plot thickens.

Thanks also to Hang Right Politics, Pursuing Holiness, Brutally Honest, Babalu and Ed Driscoll for linking.