He's confused. And he's a nice guy, so let's see if we can help him out. We'll start by reviewing Glenn's problem.

Glenn knows that Israel is strongly supported by both Democratic and Republican politicians. Indeed, this might be the only issue for which Sarah Palin could be Barack Obama's spokesperson. But here comes this WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, which says the American public have no such real preference in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The cognitive dissonance caused by these two seemingly contradictory facts is just driving Glenn nuts.

What to do?

Well, we can't really deny the first fact. Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, George Bush, Barack Obama, etc. etc. etc. weren't talking in their sleep all these years they've been expressing their support for Israel. They're on record. So that's a tough one.

So, let's take a look at the second fact.

Anyone know anything about "WorldPublicOpinion.org" ?

Hmmm?

Hmmmm indeed.

I decided to check this out. I Googled it. Interesting! There are NO references to anything other than their web site. None, that is, except one. Wikipedia has an "article" about them. I enclose "article" in quotes because at the top of the article is a big, ugly-assed comment with a big, ugly-assed orange exclamation mark followed by a warning:

"This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion."

This WorldPublicOpinion.org site, and the organization behind it, are indeed interesting. Do tell, Glenn, what do you know about them? Other than your unsubstantiated claim that they (the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes) are, ahem, "almost certainly the most prestigious and well-respected worldwide opinion survey enterprise."

Certainly a topic worthy of further investigation, but let's not get bogged down in details.

I decided to actually check out the survey you wrote about, and just clicked on a link to it, and up came the summary. And Glenn, you know what the first sentence of the summary is?

"A very large majority of Americans see the resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict as an important foreign policy goal and as crucial to winning the war against terrorism."

Looking down to the second paragraph of the summary, we've got:

"A strong majority views Israel as a friend of the United States"

Here's the link:

http://americans-world.org/digest/regional_issues/IsraelPalestinians/summary_ME.cfm

So, Glenn, I've gotta ask, did you read this before you wrote your post?

Because if you didn't, that would explain your confusion.

Paul, before you ask *me* to focus, you should do what I did, which is put in the time and concentration to read Glenn's post *and* the survey he claims backs him up. Then tell me how you reconcile the following:

Survey: "A very large majority of Americans see the resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict as an important foreign policy goal and as crucial to winning the war against terrorism."

Glenn: "The real point here is that none of these intractable disputes between Israel and its various neighbors should be a focal point of American policy at all. Yet the above-documented orthodoxy has ensured that it is."

Contradictions don't get any more clear than that, Paul.

"The U.S. mindlessly supports Israel"

"Does Obama understand this? If that ass-sucking speech to AIPAC is any indication, probably not. . . ."

==> Good thing the mindless American people, and Barack Obama, have you to set them straight.

Hmmmm indeed.

I decided to check this out. I Googled it. Interesting! There are NO references to anything other than their web site. None, that is, except one. Wikipedia has an "article" about them. I enclose "article" in quotes because at the top of the article is a big, ugly-assed comment with a big, ugly-assed orange exclamation mark followed by a warning:

"This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion."

This WorldPublicOpinion.org site, and the organization behind it, are indeed interesting. Do tell, Glenn, what do you know about them? Other than your unsubstantiated claim that they (the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes) are, ahem, "almost certainly the most prestigious and well-respected worldwide opinion survey enterprise."

Certainly a topic worthy of further investigation, but let's not get bogged down in details.

I decided to actually check out the survey on which you based your post, and just clicked on a link to it, and up came the summary. And Glenn, you know what the first sentence of the summary is?

"A very large majority of Americans see the resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict as an important foreign policy goal and as crucial to winning the war against terrorism."

Looking down to the second paragraph of the summary, we've got:

"A strong majority views Israel as a friend of the United States"

Here's the link:

http://americans-world.org/digest/regional_issues/IsraelPalestinians/summary_ME.cfm

So, Glenn, I've gotta ask, did you read this before you wrote your post?

Because if you didn't, that would explain your confusion.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/39/the-us-publics-pro-israel-history

"Similarly in a January 2005 poll, 34% of Americans expressed the view that "bringing about a permanent settlement between Israel and the Arabs" should be the top U.S. foreign policy priority and another 42% said it should be a priority though not the top priority. These percentages have varied little in Pew polls dating back to 1993."

Case Closed