One of the best commonsense posts I've read in a while comes from Mick Stockinger at UNCorrelated: Bush Higher Poll Numbers "Temporary".
Some are quick to describe President Bush's higher poll numbers in the wake of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's death in Iraq as only "temporary."
Mick comments, "I couldn't help but find this mildly amusing, because the same could be said for Bush's low poll numbers--temporary."
And what's this endless media preoccupation with popularity polls anyway?
The drive-by media exude the liberal view that popularity is the ultimate virtue. Real people, you know, with jobs, families and other responsibilities, understand that some of the most necessary and important things in the world are deeply unpopular--broccoli, annual trips to the gynecologist, changing diapers, cleaning windows, exercise (for some), basic training, balancing the checkbook, firing incompetents.
Most great leaders have been unpopular at times; the same goes for great innovators, scientists and inventors. To lead often requires taking the road less traveled. It also sometimes requires making a road where there was none before.
Popularity clearly does matter when it comes to elections, but it isn't the measure of a person.
Its excessive preoccupation with popularity ratings, however, tells us something about the mainstream media today.
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