Nice catch by Bob Owens. An NBC/WSJ poll from July 7, 2007 asked:
Recently the United States Senate passed a resolution that declared that the Iranian government’s most elite military unit is a terrorist organization. Which of the following statements comes closer to your point of view about this?
Statement A: Passing this resolution was a GOOD thing, because it sends a strong message to the Iranian government that the U.S. has put it on notice and will see that it pays an economic and diplomatic price for its actions.
Statement B: Passing this resolution was a BAD thing, because it moves the United States closer to a potential conflict with Iran, which the United States is not prepared to carry out militarily.
Did you catch it? “which the United States is not prepared to carry out militarily”. It’s a loaded question, stating their opinion as a fact. The poll was looking for the “right” response (specifically, B).


by Stephan Tawney on November 15, 2007