Lies and the Lying Liars Who Lie

Nicholas Kristof shares some interesting news from John Zogby; you know - of the eponymous Zogby Polls. Cheney and Shrub have famously touted results supposedly taken from a Zogby Poll in Iraq. Turns out that the numbers issued by ShrubCo. are not exactly... how to put this... accurate.

Mr. Cheney has cited a Zogby International poll to back his claim that there is "very positive news" in Iraq. But the pollster, John Zogby, told me, "I was floored to see the spin that was put on it; some of the numbers were not my numbers at all."

Mr. Cheney claimed that Iraqis chose the U.S. as their model for democracy "hands down," and he and other officials say that a majority want American troops to stay at least another year. In fact, Mr. Zogby said, only 23 percent favor the U.S. democratic model, and 65 percent want the U.S. to leave in a year or less.

"I am not willing to say they lied," Mr. Zogby said. "But they used a very tight process of selective screening, and when they didn't get what they wanted they were willing to manufacture some results. . . . There was almost nothing in that poll to give them comfort."

It's too bad that Zogby is not willing to say they lied. Because they did. Through their teeth.

And as usual, I am left asking the same question: Where is the media on this? Sure Kristof writes about it in his NYT column, but that's way back in the opinion section. You'd think something like this would be front page news; "above the fold."

Oh... it's that damned liberal media, again!