A Rasmussen survey finds that, “Democrats in America are evenly divided on the question of whether George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in advance. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know, and 26% are not sure.” Put another way, 61% of Democrats think it possible that the president knew about the attacks and did nothing. He was aware that, at minimum, the hundreds of people aboard those four airliners would die and he went calmly off to read “My Pet Goat” to some children?
Maybe I’m hanging around the wrong Democrats, since I’ve never had one express this concern to me. Until I see this replicated, I’m not going to get too terribly alarmed. Rasmussen is a reputable firm but this one just doesn’t smell right.
Others are taking this at face value.
Ed Morrissey (who, oddly, has a Rasmussen membership) takes a look at the crosstabs and notes that, “A clear majority of independents had no problem clearing Bush. Only 18% of them believe that Bush had advance knowledge of the attack, and 25% are unsure.” Still, it strikes me as implausible that 43% of independents think this possible. Ed allows that, “It doesn’t make a lot of sense — but then, conspiracy theories never do.” True enough. But still…..
Pejman Yousefzadeh is also somewhat credulous. He’s right, though, that “if you actually buy into the belief that the President knew about the attacks in advance, or that the CIA knew, given the evidence that we have after multiple investigations . . . well . . . I’m really not sure there is anything on Earth I can argue to change your mind.”
John Hawkins has no problem at all believing Democrats are “conspiracy loons” or, indeed, “Crazed, Drooling Nutjobs.” Has has a point, though, when he adds, “if people who know better don’t speak up, they allow the crazies to dominate the conversation by default and the public may not know the difference.”
J. Goodrich counters that this isn’t surprising, “given the very small amount of information that comes from the secretive Bush administration. Nature abhors a vacuum and if the public is not allowed to get information from the government, other sources pick up that job. The result is many conspiracy theories, and just alternative theories in general.”
