Many here at JU, arguing for the death of Terri Schiavo, have cited a poll by CBS on how they are in the majority. But are they?
Let us look at some of the questions as Phrased:
As you may know, a woman in Florida named Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be kept on life support. In cases like this who do you think should have final say, (the parents) or (the spouse)?
Now, can anyone tell me what is wrong with this question? Lets look at it one part at a time.
has been on life support for 15 years
This is clearly a lie, of if food and water are 'life support', then every man woman and child on this planet has been on life support since conception. The only difference between Terri and most of the rest of the population (infants and geriatric people excluded) are that they can feed themselves.
Doctors say she has no consciousness
Wrong again. Some doctors say that, but there is definitely no unanimous consensus on that subject, so again the pollster lied to the intended audience.
Her parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be kept on life support
AH, there is the subtly! The parents and huband aer in agreement! No one wants to keep her on life support, because she is not on it!
That is but one question. There are more. ON the subject of Bush and Congressional intervention, I will merely quote the words of Pat Cadd, a former official in the Carter Administration (no right winger he):
82% of the people said they didn't want the President or Congress involved in this matter. Well that's not what the question was actually asked. The question that was asked on the poll was whether they should be involved in determining, in deciding what should happen to her. I happen to disagree with what the Congress did, but that is not what they did.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: "There are lies, damn lies, and pollsters".
Indeed the latter are the worst as they refuse to admit their sins.