To recap:
A new Rasmussen poll finds that voters want to go to great lengths against Flight 253 bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, with a majority saying he should be waterboarded to extract information.
The poll asked: "Should waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques be used to gain information from the suspected bomber?" The result was 58% yes, to only 30% who said no.
Update: forgot the link to TPM DC.
The first rule of polling is that it's never about what a person wants, it's about how badly they want it. Rasmussen knows this, and purposely ignored it.
Those being polled could have been asked if they supported waterboarding despite the findings that it produces false confessions, causes subjects to clam up, and delays valuable intelligence gathering. They could have been asked if they supported waterboarding despite the availability of alternate techniques that weren't against the law? How about alternate techniques that weren't against the law AND were more effective than waterboarding? What do you think the poll results would have said then? You think those questions completely slipped the minds of Rasmussen's finest?
I have seen a bit head-scratching by some on the left over this poll, as well as what I can only describe (perhaps incorrectly) as a startled reaction to what these numbers say about us as a nation. The problem is with Rasmussen. They designed the poll to offer an incomplete and purposely vague option to those being questioned which does not represent the myriad of options available in real-life situations, much less their effectiveness.
This is what the Right always does by the way. The must lie about an issue, distort it, or create a false reality before they're even willing to show up, much less take a seat at the table and offer any suggestions about the world that won't fit on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. It's governing by catch phrases; governing by cliches. In their world, you can't protect America without breaking the law. The 40,000 torture experts in the country say otherwise, but who are you gonna believe, them or Dick Cheney?