Torturers vs Killers
UPDATE: A biased poll is known as a “push poll” (hat tip: Captain’s Quarters)
When the Wife (may Her name be praised!) heard that the 11the Circuit had ruled against the Schinlder’s request to reinsert Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, she said “It must make those of you who want to continue torturing her upset.”
“The fight isn’t over to stop you killers,” I quipped. We then kissed and begun our days…
Bias. Bias. Bias. Why am I not surprised that it appears that the polls suggesting 2/3rds of Americans want to see Terri Schiavo starve to death now appear to be biased against her?
Considerettes, a blog I’d never heard of before, has this to say:
Ah ha! One of the things that Hugh Hewitt mentioned in my call to him yesterday was that he wanted to see the questions in that ABC News poll about what Americans thought about the Terri Schiavo case. Turns out, their questions were deceptive.An ABC News poll reached the surprising conclusion that a majority of Americans think Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube should remain out so she can be starved to death, but the question posed by the news network portrayed her as having “no consciousness” and being on “life support,” rather than an awake, responsive patient with a feeding tube.“Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years,” the poll informed respondents. “Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her husband and her parents disagree about whether she would have wanted to be kept alive. Florida courts have sided with the husband and her feeding tube was removed on Friday. What’s your opinion on this case – do you support or oppose the decision to remove Schiavo’s feeding tube?”
In response, reported ABC, “the public, by 63 percent-28 percent, supports the removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube, and by a 25-point margin opposes a law mandating federal review of her case. Congress passed such legislation and President Bush signed it early today.”
Is this another case of the MSM trying to make the news in their ideological image? It certainly sounds that way. It’s pretty plain to anyone who’s seen any video of here, even the small snippets, that she’s not unconscious. Yet the “objective” folks at ABC News define someone who’s awake but with limited responses as having “no consciousness” and someone being fed as being on “life support”.
Anyone who has ever studied polling knows that this particular poll is fatally flawed. How easily it would have been to write a better, more balanced question:
“Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and has required medical care for 15 years. Some doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible; others including a Nobel Peace Prize winner believe that she can be rehabilitated and enjoy a reasonable quality of life. Her husband and her parents disagree over what should be done: continue her treatment or allow her to die by removing her feeding tube. Florida courts have sided with the husband and her feeding tube was removed on Friday. What’s your opinion on this case – do you support or oppose the decision to remove Schiavo’s feeding tube?”
It’s not perfect, but it’s better – and my guess is that the outcome would not be so skewed in favor of killing her.
My question is: Why? Why does the MSM have a consistent axe to grind? Why does it have political objectives, and then deny they exist? The MSM claims to be non-biased, but it’s belief keeps it from recognizing the truth – the MSM is biased – and then doing something to address this problem or not. Personally, I believe that we need to return to the past when newspapers proudly stated their biases in their headers ie, The Globe Democrat, The Arizona Republican. That way there is no denial of the reality that bias is impossible to avoid.
