Polls show consistent support for women's right to choose.

[madfloridian]

This is from an article at Media Matters about how Chris Matthews skewed some research the way he wanted. Here are some the polls they quote there. I was even surprised at this.

"For instance, a Pew Research poll conducted June 8-12 asked: "In 1973 the Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe versus Wade decision, or not?" Sixty-three percent responded "No"; 30 percent responded "Yes."

Similarly, a Gallup poll conducted July 7-10 asked the same question to half of its respondents; 68 percent said, "No, not overturn," while 29 percent responded, "Yes, overturn." Gallup asked the other half of respondents a different version of the question: "Would you like to see the Supreme Court overturn its 1973 Roe versus Wade decision concerning abortion, or not?" Sixty-three percent responded, "No, not overturn," and 28 percent responded, "Yes, overturn."

A Gallup poll conducted June 24-26 found that nearly two-thirds of respondents want a new Supreme Court justice who would vote to uphold Roe. Gallup asked: "If one of the U.S. Supreme Court justices retired, would you want the new Supreme Court justice to be someone who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade -- the decision that legalized abortion -- or vote to uphold it?" Sixty-five percent responded, "Vote to keep it," while 29 percent responded, "Vote to overturn."

In addition, a CBS News poll conducted July 13-14 asked: "More than thirty years ago, the Supreme Court's decision in Roe versus Wade established a constitutional right for women to obtain legal abortions in this country. In general, do you think the Court's decision (to uphold Roe) was a good thing or a bad thing?" Of the 632 adult respondents, 59 percent called the decision a "good thing," and 32 percent called it a "bad thing."

"It should be noted that "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are vague terms, and different respondents surely understand them differently. A May 12-16 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked a more specific question: "Which of the following best represents your views about abortion -- the choice on abortion should be left up to the woman and her doctor, abortion should be legal only in cases in which pregnancy results from rape or incest or when the life of the woman is at risk, or abortion should be illegal in all circumstances?" A majority, 55 percent, said the choice should be left up to a "woman and her doctor"; 29 percent said abortion should be legal only in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to the life of the mother; and 14 percent said it should always be illegal."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200507220007

[deadparrot]

1. Well, they're in for a rude awakening.

I love how one poll said that a majority of Americans wanted to confirm Roberts, yet similar numbers showed that they wanted RvW upheld. What do these people think Roberts is going to do on the bench?

I just don't understand Americans.

[still_one]

2. They should have thought about that in 2000 and 2004

[deadparrot]

3. Absolutely.

I just don't understand the thought patterns of many Americans.

[niceypoo]

8. Whomever Bush chooses will have a singular goal

Killing Roe v Wade

[Peace Patriot]

4. It has nothing to do with Americans' "thought patterns." It has to do

with Americans' DISENFRANCHISEMENT!

58% of Americans opposed the Iraq war BEFORE the invasion. Feb. '03. I'll never forget that stat.

63% of Americans oppose torture UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. May '04.

You name the issue. Social Security. Iraq. Torture. The deficit. The vast majority of Americans oppose every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic, way up in the 60% to 70% range.

And that's not even to mention Bush's dismal approval ratings over the last year--so low Zogby said he could not be elected. An incredibly low, unprecedented 49% on the very day of his inauguration. 42% to 44% today.

When are people going to GET THIS? HOW MUCH disapproval of Bush and everything he stands for do we have to see before people get it through their heads that the Bush Cartel WAS NOT RE-ELECTED, and DOES NOT HAVE "CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED"?

The will of the majority--which is progressive, tolerant and peaceful--is being ignored.

The Roberts thing (approval of Roberts; approval of Roe vs. Wade) is explainable by dis- and mis-information. As with the Iraq lies and many other issues, it takes time for real information to get around, against an onslaught of wrong, distorted information and non-information (the "black-holing" of stories) in the corporate news monopoly press. It is a credit to Americans, and a tribute to the peacefulness of the majority, that 58% of Americans disapproved of the Iraq war BEFORE the WMD lies were exposed. It took about a year for full realization that it was 100% lies, with zero help from the news monopolies.

And once Americans grasp the truth of something, they simply stop believing the news monopoly lies and spin. Americans are subjected to relentless, universal (all corporate media), coordinated, skillfully designed, 24/7 propaganda and brainwashing. And the bigger the lie, the more relentless it is. The two biggest ones: Iraq was a threat to the U.S. And Americans voted for mass murderers, massive thievery and baldfaced liars to continue running their country.

Yet, despite this barrage of propaganda, Americans manage eventually to figure out the truth.

The biggest journalistic crime ever committed--besides the lies about Iraq--occurred on election night 2004, when the TV networks, acting as one, FALSIFIED the exit poll data on everybody's TV screens--"adjusting" the exit polls (Kerry won) to fit the official result (Bush won) that was being fed to them from two Bushite electronic voting companies, Diebold and ES&S, who were using "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code to tabulate the votes. This falsification of the exit poll data deprived the American people of major evidence of election fraud, and squelched protests and calls for investigation.

The Democrats--many of whom are involved in the bipartisan corruption in the electronic voting machine industry (elections having now become a huge private business, involving billions of dollars)--said nothing. And it was convenient to say nothing--since many Democratic leaders also support and are involved in the huge profits to be made from war. Some call it "the War Party"--the Republican-Democratic collusion on war profiteering, and there is, unfortunately too much truth in this. They also collude on Global Corporate Rule--the selling of U.S. national sovereignty to global predators.

The Democrats' concession on election night may have involved threats, fear and misinformation (not collusion). Personally, I am not yet ready to judge that (particularly re: Kerry and Edwards). The Bush Cartel is a ruthless, murderous, traitorous cabal. And most of us have no idea what it must be like to go up against them directly.

But there is no excuse whatsoever for the Democratic leaders' failure to cry foul on the election SYSTEM long before the election. That system is inherently non-transparent and fraudulent. At the least, voters should have been warned. That was a catastrophic failure of leadership.

We are talking MAJOR DISENFRANCHISEMENT of the majority, and wholly illegitimate government. And I am sick and tired of people calling Americans stupid, lazy or uncaring. It is not true! We are the victims of a criminal, fascist conspiracy. Our will is NOT being done. You can't tell me that the elderly people and poor working parents who stood out in the rain in ten hour lines to vote are LAZY. You can't tell me that the thousands of election volunteers who gave the Democrats a blow-out success in new voter registration in 2004, nearly 60/40, are UNCARING. You can't tell me that people who opposed the Iraq war in such big numbers in February 2003 are STUPID!

I don't buy it. Something ELSE is going on. And the truth is virtually screaming at us, in opinion poll after opinion poll. AMERICANS DO NOT SUPPORT BUSH. AND MOST OF US DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS TREASONOUS, CRIMINAL CABAL.

This, too, will eventually be common knowledge, and it has a remedy. Control over election systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. Americans are intelligent, caring and extraordinarily energetic when presented with a practical problem to solve. We WILL fix this problem. We WILL get our country back. And when we do, the Bush Cartel's appointments to the courts will be voided, as the acts of traitors!

[nicknameless]

5. Ha! I've got dueling posts going with some scumbag who denies that

backalley abortions ever took place!!! I thought DU was a progressive board! I can't believe what I've been reading here the past week. It's absolutely appalling!

If you're interested in seeing just how appalling it has become:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1647864&mesg_id=1651321

The discussion began around the question of sacrificing the Roe decision in order to get more votes. (Howard Dean's "big tent") The proposal generally ignores the fact that that ruling has saved women's lives. And essentially the proposal to sacrifice Roe is a proposal to trade women's lives for possible votes.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

12. That's pretty bad, all right

That there were back alley abortions pre Roe is common knowledge among any who were alive and aware back then.

Anyhow who knows what that guys story is. And based on what he is saying, I don't even care.

[nicknameless]

13. I thought at first that he must be have been born after 1973,

but found from other posts that he's at least in his 50's. How unconscionable is that?

And seriously, I thought DU was supposed to be a progressive board. I thought right-wingers were supposed be invited to post their bile someplace else.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

14. You'd think

That is shocking about the guy. Something doesn't add up in all that.

Sometimes I think that the right appears here among other places "under cover" to try to create divisiveness and chaos.

I think someone has to click the old "alert" link to bring questionable posts to the attention of the moderators.

[nicknameless]

15. I agree that something doesn't add up. He would have to have lived under

a rock for decades -- or just be an outright right-winger. My opinion leans towards the latter. He definitely seemed to be out to inflame.

Too many stealth right-wingers are showing up here.
And I totally agree about the need to have their garbage alerted on.

Thanks for your input, Humor_In_Cuneiform! It's really appreciated! :hi:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

16. Yes, way too many...

right wingers.

I wonder if very many of our side go to their blogs or whatever and post there to try to stir things up.

Anyhow you're welcome.

B-)

[nicknameless]

18. Three of his posts got removed ...

and one of mine. I got a little carried away, emotionally -- but wasn't that what he was after? He was there to disrupt and inflame ... and grind the giant axe he has against women.

I've read some of our members' posts about going to FReeperland and posting there. That place grosses me out way too much. As do all things right-wing.

Thanks again for your supportive posts! :toast:

[madfloridian]

6. Both parties are voting against the wishes of the majority.

Pure and simple. They have sold out to business or to special interest groups completely.

[Booster]

7. Absofuckinglutely. I have been saying this for weeks. Whatever

the polls show what most Americans want, then Washington does exactly the opposite. To me this is a very disturbing trend and the Dems in Wash are just as much to blame as the Repugs. We need to pay attention and vote out the Dems who are ignoring our wishes.

[Lexingtonian]

9. rest assured

that Washington Republicans know these numbers perfectly well. Of course they know perfectly well that this means opposition to Roe is completely doomed in the next 10-20 years. They realized it around 1998, in fact. They know perfectly well that as an issue, an overturn of Roe is a waste of time and political energy. Republicans are 50/50 on it. Democrats are 80/20 in favor of Roe.

Roberts is a typical Bush pick, right at the Republican moderate (pro-Roe) vs hardliner (anti-Roe) boundary just like Bush himself. That is the "genius" of Bush, knowing exactly where that line is and sticking to it doggedly.

I don't buy that Roberts is an automatic vote to overturn Roe. It's very useful for both sides to pretend that he is in public and to feel certain that it's 50/50 or better to uphold Roe in private.

Maybe I shouldn't be giving away the game. But never forgot that Job One of the Bush people is to keep the Christian Right deceived and playing along with the interests of the business/political Establishment. Fighting Democrats is really just Job Two.

[madfloridian]

10. Kick

.

[madfloridian]

11. Read The Hill today. I don't have the heart to post it.

You will see why I kicked this.

[McCamy Taylor]

17. Overturn Roe V. Wade=Mobilize the Dem Base. Can the GOP do Math?