Don’t Buy In

One of the key precepts of good public communications is to not allow yourself to buy-in to someone else’s interpretations of the facts or false pretense.  Yes, “we’re all entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts” as the late Senator Patrick Daniel Moynihan once famously said.  But some facts conflict with others, and the glass can be half full or half empty.

Last night I watched Joe Scarborough.  That’s not something I usually do, but MSNBC got smart and realized that probably 3/4s of Keith Obermann’s fans were switching channels as soon as the obnoxious Rita Cosby came on, so they put Scarborough in her time slot following “Countdown.”  And even he’s beginning to think our president’s elevator doesn’t go to the top, so I’ve watched a few shows lately.

Last night, he ad three guests to talk about the immigration issue.  Here are four snippets of what Scarborough said.“Now, with 77 percent of Americans supporting a freeze or reduction in immigration levels, it’s no wonder the president’s plan is no wildly unpopular in middle America.

…. You [REP. HILDA SOLIS (D), CALIFORNIA] saw the Pew poll that says 40 percent of Americans want to keep immigration levels frozen, 37 percent actually want — actually, 40 percent want immigration levels decreased, 37 percent want to hold it steady. Only 17 percent support what the president’s talking about doing. Why is it that there’s such a disconnect between what you support and what the president supports and what middle America supports?

…You’ve [ PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST] been called just about everything that you can be called for taking a position that, again, according to this Pew poll, nearly 80 percent of Americans support. I just — I’ve got to underline this disconnect. Look, add up the numbers.  Seventeen percent of Americans are against your position and yet, you’ve been attacked for years …

… Certainly, you [BRAD BLAKEMAN, FORMER BUSH ADVISER] have to understand, as does Karl Rove and the White House, that if [the president] takes a position that 77 percent of Americans oppose, his poll numbers are going to go down.

First of all, most Americans don’t know that the president’s proposal would increase immigration.  Hell, I don’t know.  Mostly, what Scarborough was trying to say is that most Americans support the House of Representatives’ approach of “send them all home.”

Neither the congresswoman or the former Bush advisor challenged Scarborough. 

And one web site would give you all the ammunition you needed. 

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. May 16-18, 2006. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.

CBS News Poll. May 16-17, 2006. N=636 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4 (for all adults).

CNN Poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation. May 16-17, 2006. N=1,022 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

CBS News/New York Times Poll. May 4-8, 2006. N=1,241 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults).

Pick a poll and they prove that Americans favor allowing illegal immigrants to stay or, as the Fox polls demonstrate, they’re conflicted. 

Also, note that what the poll Scarborough was referring to can be framed differently:  A majority of American favor either keeping immigration levels the same or increasing them.  Which sounds a whole lot more like the President’s plan than the House’s.

The first thing out of my mouth would be, “Joe, you’re misreading those polls.  They show that most Americans think our immigration levels are about right or should be increased.  That means that they are opposed to the House’s plan to declare all illegal immigrants felons and send them back home,  And by the way, how would you do that and how much would it cost?  Should be raise taxes to do it?”

I love asking reporters questions in interviews.  They look dumbstruck.  Most are smart enough not to try to answer.  But the next thing to do is not fill the silence.  Let them ask the question again, which they would invariably do.  And then give the same answer.