The Fear Factor
by digby
Via Kevin Drum I see that the PPP did some polling of Texans to see what they believe about this insane Jade Helm navy-seals-are-sending-death-squads-to-Midland conspiracy theory:
Kevin says:
Apparently a full third of the Republican base believes that President Obama plans to order the military to take over Texas. Booyah! And supporters of Ted Cruz and Rick Perry—who are probably mostly from Texas—believe this idiocy by 60-70 percent.
So what do we take from this? I think there are two main interpretations:
Fox and Rush and the rest of the conservative media have driven conservatives into such a frenzy that a third of them really, truly do believe that President Obama plans a military takeover of Texas.
Poll questions like this no longer have any real meaning. This is basically little more than a survey of mood affiliation that tests how much you hate and distrust President Obama. That is to say, a yes answer has little or nothing to with Jade Helm. It just means you really hate and distrust Obama.
Kevin thinks the second is the most likely, that this is just a way for Republicans to express their extreme loathing for Obama. I’d guess that true. But only for some of them. I think there’s a substantial number of Republicans who really do believe this claptrap. There have always been some who believe this sort of thing. Until Joseph McCarthy held televised hearings and made a total ass of himself 50% of the population thought it was perfectly plausible that commies had infiltrated the government and the military. The oddest thing about this is that these are the same people who will scream in your face “love it or leave it!” and “these colors don’t run, hippie” when anyone on the left criticizes American defense policy. It’s the weirdest thing.
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