Bush as popular as UFOs

Cross-posted at Newport 9.

The December 14 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an editorial titled "Not-so-curious George" on the subject of Chimpy's "listening tour".  There's a lot of good stuff there on how pathetic it is that Bush has to crank up a major publicity campaign just to let us know he's actually listening to other people, but here's the money quote:

The impetus for the listening tour was the release last week of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's 79 recommendations for policy and goal changes, which coincided with a CBS poll that said only 21% of the public shares the president's "stay the course" policies in Iraq.  This is roughly the same percentage of the public that, in another poll, said it believes crop circles are caused by UFOs.

Serious analysis below the fold.

The Post-Dispatch's editorial raises an interesting question: just how much overlap is there between the people who support the Iraq War and the people who believe that UFOs made the crop circles?  I have to believe that the two groups include a lot of the same people.  After all, both groups have to believe in a phenomenon for which there is no actual proof (the existence of UFOs, and a successful prosecution of the Iraq War), and both have to ignore important facts that contradict their beliefs (crop circles were actually made by humans, and Iraq has fallen into a state of civil war).

I propose that a study be conducted on the overlap between credulous UFO enthusiasts and credulous war enthusiasts.  (And since the Iraq Study Group seems to be done studying Iraq, we might as well give them the job.)  If I'm right, and the two groups are largely the same, then this could be a breakthrough for the cause of world peace: simply find out which people believe in UFOs, and make sure that they are never put in charge of any military forces.

You can send me my Nobel Peace Prize in the mail.

•  That makes perfect sense

  It's most likely the same people.

  by gjohnsit on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:26:24 PM PDT

  •  uh, sorry to break the news to you...

    ...but UFO True Believers are more likely to be New Agers, who in turn are more likely to be Democrats.    

    Republican True Believers overlap with the fundamentalist Taliban types who believe the universe was created 6,000 years ago, and who for the most part believe that the UFO stuff is a satanic cult.  

    Hey, each side has its own flavor of irrationalism, but the R irrationalists constitute a voting bloc.  

    (There is also a small but not insignificant number of people in the sciences who believe there is a case for continued study of UFO incidents, although these people don't subscribe to the foolishness about crop circles and alien abductions and so on.  These people aren't relevant to the present discussion...)

    by G2geek on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:33:51 PM PDT

  •  FWIW,

    the members of the crop circle believing crowd that I've run into are quite anti-Bush.

    I must admit that I would personally much rather have a beer with an alien than with Duhbya.

    by tjqhzonff on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:36:33 PM PDT

  •  Potential bush supporter questionare:

    Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?
         If you answer yes, welcome to the republican party.

    by irate on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:49:35 PM PDT

•  The Post-Dispatch has gone downhill

  over the years since it published the Pentagon Papers along with the NY Times, and when it was on Nixon's enemies list, but that was a good editorial.

  by TomP on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:28:11 PM PDT

•  another startling similarity...

  both u.f.o.s & george w. bush are known for abducting people & conducting anal probes.

  by rasbobbo on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:28:55 PM PDT

•  If so...

  ...then we can expect an alien invasion liberation any day now.

  by DH from MD on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:32:06 PM PDT

•  Please do not

  lump together those who believe in the potential existence of Extraterrestrial life and that this life may have visited this planet and those who still believe in the Iraq war and believe the lies bush told them.

  The possibility of ET existing greatly outweighs the possibility of Bush being right on Iraq.

  by Dreggas on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:32:13 PM PDT

  •  Funny comment but not on the mark

    The possibilities of ET is much greater but the editorial juxtaposed the belief that crops circles are caused by UFOs, not the existence of ETs.  

    e.g.,

    "Do you think crop circles are actually caused by UFO's?"

    No, not in the structured craft sense! UFO's can cover anomalous lights which are seen in the vicinity of crop circles, or on the night of their creation. I don't personally believe that alien structured craft  are producing the designs. I feel it's more earth bound than many people realise. It's more tied up with Earth Energy, and consciousness itself, than any alien agenda.  However, I do believe aliens  exist, but it's a different phenomenon that is creating these designs.

    by sawgrass727 on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 02:02:51 PM PDT

    •  No matter how specific

      the poll or the question the end result is conflating those who believe in ET's and UFO's with bush. Yeah crop circles have been hoaxed though some remain unexplained but they all get lumped together in the end.

      by Dreggas on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 02:17:50 PM PDT

•  I do wish he'd be abducted by aliens! n/t

  by Lepanto on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 01:41:26 PM PDT

  •  agreed

    and I don't care if they take him home in a UFO or a truck going back over the Mexican border, as long as they don't return him.

    by alizard on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 04:27:19 PM PDT

•  watch it with those 20% stats...

  Roughly 20% of the United States is non-Christian (15% "No Religion / Atheist / Agnostic"). And, yes, "seventy-nine percent of Americans believe that, as the Bible says, Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, without a human father".

  Perhaps that might help explain why a majority of Americans "do not accept the theory of evolution", and only 22% of Americans think that it is "improper for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in a government building".

  by pb on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 02:00:03 PM PDT

•  In contrast to Bush,

  the beings that operate UFOs probably wish only good for the human race.

  by jazzmaniac on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 02:12:03 PM PDT

•  The White House Press Office is like World Weekly

  News.

  by NNadir on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 02:47:00 PM PDT

•  iraq videos

  Great post, thanks.  Don't know if you've seen these three short videos from Iraq yet or not, but both show the US Military engaging in some very dubious actions.  I have them up on my site at www.minor-ripper.blogspot.com

  by MinorRipper on Tue Dec 19, 2006 at 03:09:42 PM PDT