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Monday, July 7, 2008 12:00 AM

Beltway myth: "The left-wing base" vs. "the American people" on Iraq

Mara Liasson falsely claims that "the American people" only want to leave Iraq when "conditions on the ground" permit it.

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  • Monday, July 7, 2008 06:43 AM

    NaR

    I don't think it's fair to call the position that we should look at the facts on the ground before withdrawing a "fringe" position based on the data you presented.

    For one, in every poll you presented at least a third and usually over 40% of the people support staying in Iraq. A third is hardly fringe.

    It all depends on how you want to define "fringe," I suppose. There aren't many positions that can't attract 30% (even George Bush, almost certainly the most unpopular president in modern American history, continues to attract that percentage).

    Some of these polls show that the McCain position -- stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to "win" -- are embraced by 20-30% of Americans. You can bicker about whether that's enough of a minority to call it the "fringe" -- I think it is -- but if any position is the "fringe," it's not the one the pundit class claims (leave Iraq regardless) but the one that they almost unanimously embrace.

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