Telephone Polls

I got a call yesterday from a polling company. They asked me if I would be interested in going through some questions with them pertaining to the upcoming election. I had a few minutes available, so I agreed to answer the questions. At first the questions were straightforward. Had I heard of Person A? Had I heard of Person B? Would I vote for Person A in November? Would I vote for Person B in November? Then the true nature of the poll was revealed when they started to ask some ridiculously biased questions. I forget the exact wording of these questions, but they asked something along the lines of whether or not I knew that Person A voted for a bill that would hurt Georgians and line the pockets of some group? And did I know that Person A took X dollars from that group? How did that make me feel about Person A? Would I still vote for Person A?

I immediately asked who was doing this polling. The questions were ridiculously one-sided and almost certainly dishonestly framed. The pollster said that they didn't know who funded the poll. Yeah, right. Pull this leg and it plays jingle bells. I asked if they were going to ask equally biased questions about the other candidate. The pollstar didn't respond affirmatively.

It was such a ridiculous survey. I haven't been involved in any polling this close to an election. If this is the way that telephone surveys are conducted, I wouldn't trust any of the results that come from them.

Not that it matters that much since both sides probably do this, but the target of this poll's negativity appeared to be Casey Cagle, candidate for Lieutenant Governor. He was the one that this "neutral" poll tried to portray as a step or two short of being Pol Pot. I'm guessing that it was commissioned by the Georgia Democratic Party or Jim Martin's (his opponent's) camp. Either way, I imagine that they didn't like my answers or my editorializing about the nature of the questions.

Don't you just love election season?

On boa constrictors and illegal immigration

Here are some updates on happenings related to illegal immigration.

Good news: McCain's support for illegals stings him in Alabama (from Ace of Spades via Freedom Folks)

McCain had a fundraiser and the showing was paltry. Per Ace of Spades:

I actually did some "investigative reporting" (I called some of my old friends on Capitol Hill who are close to the McCain people) and asked why they thought the Senator wasn't getting much traction in a place like Alabama, which traditionally loves their war heroes. The answer: Illegal Alien Amnesty and the "torture" debate have taken a much heavier toll on McCain then previously thought. Even McCain's recent vote in favor of construction of the 700 mile border wall hasn't earned him any credit among these voters.

More good news: Illegals dropping off the dole in Georgia (from the AJC)

Georgia's Medicaid program lost almost 70,000 in membership in the first four months of 2006, after Georgia launched new rules to control fraud.

Beginning Jan. 1, the state began demanding proof of income and citizenship for people to join or stay on Medicaid. Through April, the government insurance program for about 1.3 million of Georgia's poor and disabled had an enrollment decline of 69,635."

and...

"Illegal immigrants are getting onto our social system, and it is busting the bank now," Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) said at the hearing. Norwood earlier took his anti-fraud fight national, helping push Congress to pass a law requiring proof of citizenship in all states' Medicaid programs.

And the bad news: Congress playing smoke and mirrors with border fence legislation (via MSNBC)

"No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts."

We need results on this issue, not rhetoric. We need to keep fighting, because many of the politicians are thinking that this crisis will pass and we'll move on to the next thing. Then they can move forward with their plans of open borders, a NAFTA superhighway, and a North American Union. They're like a boa constrictor in that they wrap their corrupted system around us and then they wait for us to relax or exhale. When we do, they tighten their grip. They're just waiting until we stop kicking. Then they can dispose of us and go ahead with their nefarious activities. Well, I'm hoping that the boa constrictor bit off more than it can chew this time. We can't stop fighting until the snake frees us from its grip. Otherwise, we may as well just give up now.