When politicians from either side say: "The American People want this..."

[Thunderstruck]

or "the American People want that...", how do they know this? Where are they going to check the pulse of the American People?

Why is it that I'm never included in this information gathering process? Am I not one of the American People? Why do I almost always disagree with what I'm told the America People want?

[Atman]

1. "The American People" simply means "The e-mails I've received."

Nothing more. Period.

[emulatorloo]

3. or sometimes internal polling. When republicans say it, it means the Koch Brothers

[Jack Rabbit]

7. No, It means . . .

The e-mails I've received from my most favored donors and most loyal fundraisers. But think that I'm being bribed.

[Modern_Matthew]

2. The American people means those with enough money to have a voice. nt

[davidthegnome]

4. It's like polling

A sampling of a majority is taken by some group or other to indicate what a real majority wants. Using these methods - depending on who you poll, you can come up with all kinds of possible and fascinating results. Usually that's what they're referring to.

I've never much cared for polls, a sampling of a majority is never actually a majority.

(Edited for spelling. Oops.)

[FormerDittoHead]

5. "The American People" = I won the election by .01 percent, now I have a "mandate"...

You know, the opposite of what Obama did, which was, "I won the election in a landslide, now I'm going to let the losers tell me what to do..."

[randr]

6. It always pisses me off when I hear "the people have spoken"

Who the hell do they think sent Obama to the White House?

[WatsonT]

8. Because "the guys who paid for my campaign

or who helped me bury that hooker last night. . ." just doesn't have the same ring.

[sad sally]

9. As stated very well by all the posts above, it's fairly certain

when a politician or political wannabe (aka tea partiers) says it, it doesn't mean ALL Americans, just some special ones.

p.s. did a Google search on 'politicians American people' and your post came up #7 - neat!

[Populist_Prole]

10. I hate that term with a passion. Sounds so cliche and hyperbolic.

Whenever I hear that term I know they're not talking about me.

[txlibdem]

11. Translation: The Rich

When a Republican says "The American People want..." they really mean "The Wealthy want..."

When a DLC Dem says it, it means exactly the same thing: only the rich.

When Pres. Obama says it, it means exactly the same thing: only the rich.

If a true Democrat says it, it means the bottom 80%.