Palin-Hatin’ – Read the Fine Print Edition

Now, taking into consideration that The Daily Beast is as much a cyber-tabloid as anything out there on the web, I’m sure there are people that would look at the following headline and impart at least a modicum of seriousness to it:

Read a bit further down for an explanation: “59 percent of Americans think Sarah Palin is not fit to be president of the United States, according to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll.”

M'Kay. Which Americans, exactly?

Well, that’s where it gets interesting. First, click the link to the Vanity Fair article and scroll AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way down to the bottom for this nugget:

“NOTE: This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 847 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone August 3–5, 2010. Some low-percentage answer choices have been omitted.” [emphasis mine].

Um. Yeah, alright. And guess what other questions these “random” adults weighed in on?

- Is taxing tanning at a salon a good idea?
- Which do you think is the most overused word in the English language today – Like, Awesome, Tweet, Organic or Hope? (“hope” being the lowest scorer, natch)
- Which of the following do you think is the most likely to actually exist – Ghosts, UFOs, Vampires, Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot or None of the above? (And, of course, 5% answered “none”)

Incredible, eh? These are likely the same types of folks that Sean Hannity’s staff members stop on the streets of New York who can’t answer “Who is the Vice-President?”.

Frankly, I’d consider an internet poll to be more scientific. What percentage of this group do you think are actually registered voters? Likely voters?

I’m going to be generous and say about 15%.

Get used to this folks. I have a feeling you’re going to see a whole lot more of this over the next several years.