‘Rightosphere Temperature Check’

March 2, 2007

John Hawkins at Right Wing News, a leading far-right blog, emailed more than 240 “right-of-center bloggers” with an eight-question survey. A total of 63 responded, including many of the sites I read daily for my other gig (Atlas Shrugs, Cold Fury, Hot Air, IMAO, Iowa Voice, Outside The Beltway, Poliblog, PoliPundit, Sister Toldjah, Stop The ACLU, and Don Surber, among others). Hawkins, appropriately enough, called it the “Rightosphere Temperature Check.”

As you might expect, the results were less than encouraging. (Note: some respondents skipped questions or gave answers that were difficult to categorize, so not every question got 63 responses)

1) Do you think the surge should go forward?
Yes (61) — 97%
No (2) — 3%

2) Do you think that a majority of Democrats in Congress would like to see us lose in Iraq for political reasons?
Yes (53)– 84%
No (10) — 16%

3) Do you believe that the wall on the border will ever actually be completed?
Yes (6) — 10%
No (56) — 90%

4) Do you think mankind is the primary cause of global warming?
Yes (0) — 0%
No (59) — 100%

Now, the “surge” responses were fairly predictable, and I’m actually inclined to agree about the fate of the border wall, but let’s consider #2 and #4 for a moment.

I realize that there’s a rhetorical game the right plays in which they question Dems’ patriotism for sport, but this suggests that a large majority of the conservative bloggers are buying into their own spin. No wonder they hate us so much — most of them actually believe we want Bush’s failed policy to keep failing.

And every single conservative blogger who answered the question believes we’re not the principal cause of global warming? I realize there’s some hostility towards modern science, but this is astounding.

These were followed up by some multiple-choice questions.

5) Illegal Immigration.
A) Would you prefer an illegal immigration bill that tackled border security and enforcement issues only? (46) — 77%
B) Would you prefer a comprehensive bill that tackled border security and enforcement issues, created a legal status for the people who are here illegally, created a guest worker program, and increased the number of foreigners allowed to become American citizens? (14) — 23%

6) Which of the following Democratic candidates do you think would be the toughest opponent for a Republican candidate in 2008?
A) Hillary Clinton (38) — 63%
B) John Edwards (9) — 15%
C) Barack Obama (13) — 22%

7) If you were grading George Bush on his foreign policy for his presidency so far, would you give him an:
A or B (35) — 56%
C (18) — 29%
D, E, or F (10) — 16%

8) If you were grading George Bush on his domestic policy for his presidency so far, would you give him an:
A or B (17) — 27%
C (26) — 41%
D, E, or F (20) — 32%

Given the respondents, I’m pleasantly surprised 16% are willing to give Bush a D or lower on foreign policy.

Well he certainly found the right place to stick the thermometer…

  • LOL dander #1

    Wingnuts put the idiot in ideologist. Wingnuts, ya try to understand them, you can’t, they’re wingnuts.

  • How the right-wing gets away with making global warming a mankind-did-it or mankind-didn’t-do-it issue is beyond me. The point I keep trying to make is that it doesn’t really matter who started it, but the effects should be profound enough to make people want to stop it. If you see a small fire and are standing next to a fire extinguisher, but don’t know who lit the fire, aren’t you still supposed to put it out?

  • Robots. They’re told what to think, and by golly, that’s what they think. Dutifully adhering to the party line.

    An “E?” Eeeeeeediotioc.

  • 56% give Bush an “A” or “B” in foreign policy? Good lord, I would hate to see what they think is an “F”.

  • The 0-100 outcome makes the case clearly: the GOP has its head buried so deep up its ass that reality has no chance of entering. Like a black hole, if any scientific knowledge gets in there it’s impossible to detect.

  • I’m pretty far left, even for a Carpetbagger reader, but I’m with them on Immigration.

    I do think that we need to close the borders for a while and sort things out. The contention that the illegals are doing the jobs that we won’t do is crap. The jobs that I worked my way through school doing for a pittance are now bring done by illegals for about 40% of that pittance. They are depressing the manual labor rates and perpetuating poverty in America to say nothing of making it harder for kids to work their way through school.

    We’re never going to stop illegal immigration completely but a serious effort would get it down to manageable proportions and produce a brighter and more determined class of immigrant.

  • They are engaged in huge deforestation projects aimed at increasing the living space of hordes of humans of questionable value.

    IIRC, quite a bit of deforestation projects, especially that in South America, is related to raising cattle, not for increasing living space.

  • Hmm…

    As for question #2, I think there’s a problem hidden in the words “us lose”. They probably think that leaving = losing.

    Of course many of us would like to see us leave, and we would also appreciate it if the American people would *#$@ remember in November 2008 who wanted to leave and who wanted to send more kids to die in Iraq’s civil war. So I certainly do want “them” (the wingnuts) to “lose” (as they see it) and there’s a significant political benefit which should be given to the side that was right. The side that didn’t want to start that stupid war.

    So how exactly do we leave? IMHO that will not happen until our Democrappy leaders grow a backbone and some nuts and do the right thing, and that, unfortunately, hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t happen until lots more kids die. Of course the wingnut IDIOTS would see that as me simply wanting our troops to die. But they are IDIOTS.

    As for this…

    97% think the surge should go forward…

    I wonder what percentage are willing to sign up? I’m guessing the same percentage that has a clue about global warming.

  • Steve,

    With your ties to Blog Report…would it be possible to modify and conduct that poll with similar questions for the major blogs within the LW blogsphere????…
    It would be an interesting comparsion to say the least…..

    Do you guys think the answers be the complete opposite…….????

    I think the answers to questions 4 (zero percent believe Global warming is manmade…wtf) and #7 (56 percent give an him an ‘A’/”B’???) truly represent a delusional world view that has been filtered through overexposure to solely RW media sources on a daily basis..

    There simply is no other explanaiton

  • I’m with Communalist on #10.

    We need to seal up the border (as much as possible), set up serious penalties for hiring illegals, establish a real ID system, clear out the illegal aliens, set up a fair immigration system (letting people in from other countries too, not just Mexico) and force Mexico to let their people unionize. If they don’t want to, FINE, just don’t expect us to buy your crap.

    I’m sick of the race to Mexican wages that we’re on.

  • Glen (#8), I was trying to think up a series of nonsense syllables which might qualify for an F, but the more I thought about it even nonsense syllables make more foreign policy sense than the Bush Crime Family to date.

    Communalist (39), We’re never going to stop illegal immigration until we subject employers who illegally provide jobs for them to the fines and imprisonment already envisioned in our laws. Police need to start looking at those who stand to make an obscene profit rather than those who hope to make a living wage.

  • It seems to me that the global warming issue is drowning out discussion of pollution of our air, drinking water and seas and over-population.

  • Yay! #6

    The opinion that Mankind is not responsible for Global Warming, if it exists, is Not a valid reason for doing nothing. We are pumping thousands (millions?) of tons of noxious chemicals and particulate matter into the atmosphere DAILY and it’s just bad manners. It certainly can’t be benign.
    When you stop to consider that this is NOT being done, at root, by all of us but rather by the very few who own and operate the manufactories that produce and use petroleum and produce petroleum dependent machinery. It’s 21st Century Capitalism at it’s most basic: SOCIALIZE THE RISK AND PRIVATIZE THE PROFIT.

  • I think they’re hardwired this way. Their neural net or brain chemistry prevents them from recognizing obvious patterns and leads them to misinterpret what they see in others. Sort of like believing in creationism and the literal interpretation of the Bible; I don’t think this kind of wilful ignorance can be taught in Sunday School. Extreme Deadly Weather will always be the wrath of God; never global meltdown.

  • I’m with #10 and #14. I have never understood how illegal immigration got to be a PC issue among liberals.

    I’m pro-nuclear power also – another PC issue among liberals. James Lovelock (“Gaia”) himself has come out for nuclear power and been blasted by liberals for doing so. Shrug.

  • When I was in middle school, an “E” was equivelant to an “A” (it was an E-S-M-I-F scale).

    Considering the location of the “E” in the multiple choice section, my guess is that they are so against anyone being educated (lest those educated folks stop buying their bullshit) that they don’t even know the right grading system.

    I’d also note that a 25% response rate seem pretty low — wouldn’t all these righties want to have their opinions known? Isn’t that why they, you know, started a blog?

  • would it be possible to modify and conduct that poll with similar questions for the major blogs within the LW blogsphere????…

    Hawkins occasionally polls lefty bloggers also. I responded to a couple of his polls; I might do something like this if i’m still on his mailing list.

    And as for these peole believing their own bullshit, well, Ann Coulter now says evolution is a myth. At a certain point, I guess you just buy into whatever your side is selling.

  • And the only thing that surprises me about #2 is that any of them said “No.” They don’t disagree with us — they hate us. They hate us the way blacks hate the Klan or Jews hate Nazis. They think we’re evil incarnate. They think we’re not fit to live.

  • I find it very interesting that a majority of them think Hillary would be the toughest to beat. I believe she’d be, by far, the easiest to beat–as the polls already suggest.

    Though the idea of going inside the right-wing blog hive mind is kind of terrifying, I’m very curious as to what if any reasoning informs this view. Is it simply atavistic fear of the Clintons, who beat them three out of four in the ’90s? Is it that Hillary might be harder to paint as a squish on defense/killin’ Ay-rabs issues? Are they perhaps worried that their ostensibly submissive and obedient womenfolk might, in the privacy of the voting booth, disobey orders and vote for sisterhood over patriarchy?

  • It was a trick question. Of course the sun is the primary cause of global warming.

  • I think what needs to happen is for reality-denying voters to just quit participating.

    Really! I mean it. We thinking folks will do the governing all by ourselves.

    There is no room in American discourse for imaginary poltical positions based solely on one party’s propaganda. We either have to educate these numbskulls or push them to the side, forcefully.

  • It still shocks me on a daily basis that the Unions are not pushing massive immigration reform. Without a stable labor market, collective bargaining is impossible. Wake up, guys. The corporate puppetmasters are pulling at the strings here.

  • It still shocks me on a daily basis that the Unions are not pushing massive immigration reform. Without a stable labor market, collective bargaining is impossible. Wake up, guys. The corporate puppetmasters are pulling at the strings here.

    Or, since unions are dying here in the US, perhaps going to Mexico so folks don’t have to come here and take US jobs (many of which Americans would do, regardless of what people say).

    That way, they could get paid a fair wage in their home coutry, rather than being exploited here (which is my main concern with the immigration issue … guess my heart bleeds a bit too much).

    In the mean time, a path to citizenship for the millions already here, combined with a border that’s secure without being East Germanyish, is something that seems like the best solution

  • Further proof of the complete and abject failure of home schooling, in which a semiliterate halfwit produces an illiterate quarterwit.

  • #9: We’re never going to stop illegal immigration completely but a serious effort would get it down to manageable proportions and produce a brighter and more determined class of immigrant.

    As someone who lives in “Illegal Immigrant Central” I’ll point out that the only difference between these people you look down on and your own ancestors who were probably told to keep off the grass by those who’d fallen off the boat a year earlier, is a hundred years and an ocean. As far as “brighter” is concerned, more than a few of these people come from educated backgrounds that forced them to come up here as an alternative to being killed byUS-supported death squads – my own next-door neighbor being a prime example of that. As to determination, I doubt your own ancestors would have gotten here if they’d had to cross the Sonoran Desert to do so.

    Like most American halfwits, going back to the English being upset with the arrival of the Welsh who were unhappy with the arrival of the Scots, who were unhappy with the arrival of the Germans who were unhappy with the arrival of the Irish who were unhappy with the arrival of the Jews who were unhappy with the arrival of the Poles who were unhappy with the arrival of the Italians all of whom who were unhappy with the arrival of the Chinese (and all for all the reasons you cite), you’re a community clusterfuck, intellectually. But you’re a good ol’ American intellectual clusterfuck.

  • Cleaver, you’re a jerk

    My ancestors on one side walked several thousand miles across Europe and sailed to America in a cargo hold. On the other side they were driven out of England and left France before they could be killed for heretics. My paternal grandfather was an illegal. So don’t give me your holier than thou liberal bullshit. The fact remains that unrestricted immigration is perpetuating poverty for both indigenous (born here) Americans and for the immigrants themselves. I repeat: We’re never going to stop illegal immigration completely but a serious effort would get it down to manageable proportions and produce a brighter and more determined class of immigrant.

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