# CNN 's "Iraq Quagmire" Poll. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 19, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326 "2003-08-19T23:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/21 "2003-08-20T04:18:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > **Does he [Bill O’Reilly] get those kind of numbers?** Yes he does, sometimes. I actually got on his website to give some examples in my earlier post, but it appears you need to be a “premium member” to access that info. I don’t think you need to be a premium member to vote, though. I don’t suppose you want to become a B.O. premium member to find out for sure, do you?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/22 "2003-08-20T11:36:57Z")
Do they put some kind of mark on your forehead? ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/23 "2003-08-20T11:52:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Read\_Neck \* > \*\*The use of the word “quagmire” on CNN (Communists News Network) is like a poll “Is bacon good for you?” posted on “Hogfarmers .com” \*\* Minor hi-jack, but do many people in America actually view CNN as a ‘leftist’ news station? From a European perspective they inhabit a moderate right of centre Pro-US position in any coverage I’ve seen. What makes people see them as somehow _‘communist’_? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/24 "2003-08-20T12:27:40Z")
Heck, from a CANADIAN perspective CNN seems moderately conservative. If not conservative, then certainly extremely pro-U.S. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/25 "2003-08-20T12:57:13Z")
I believe Americans view CNN as a sort of fast-food news, where you can get it fast and anytime. Many Americans realize that CNN is merely lapping up Pentagon spoo and giving a snowball to the public. Not enough, though. I believe that some Army PSYOPS spooks were caught working as “interns” at CNN at one point. Kind of reverse embedded journalism…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/26 "2003-08-20T13:12:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*Do they put some kind of mark on your forehead? \*\* Don’t be silly. They just put your name in this dark leather book. In blood. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/27 "2003-08-20T13:56:58Z")
Anyone going to answer the questions about CNN ? Or may we assume that only FOX has the right “outview” for the Bushshites ? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/28 "2003-08-20T14:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rashak Mani \* > \*\*Anyone going to answer the questions about CNN ? Or may we assume that only FOX has the right “outview” for the Bushshites ? \*\* As a topic, it has been hashed and rehashed, but here is my take on it: ‘Communist News Network’ is a bit of joke among conservatives. I doubt many, if any, truely believe that CNN espouses the teaching of Marx and **Elucidator**. But still, they do often (less, now that FNC is handing them their ass, ratings-wise) take a pro-Left/anti-Right stance. If you are looking for smoking guns, I am afraid you are out of luck. It is a matter of nuance; Of using certain loaded phrases, when a more nuetral phrase would have fit just fine. A few months back, the stock market dropped some double-digit amount one day. CNN’s graphic? A deep red background, with a picture of scowling GW, ominous music, a skewed chart, etc. What the fuck does GW have to do with it? Especially odd given that GW was never actually mentioned in the segment; They just wanted to associate him with a down day at the market. Like I said, not a big deal in and of itself, but… Little shit like that, but over the years, it gets noticed. Not to mention, Turner is a monumental ass of a man, _and_ the sonuvabitch married Hanoi Jane. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/29 "2003-08-20T14:55:02Z")
There really is no liberal media in the US. The media basically ranges from moderate right to far right. Such a narrow spectrum of opinion tends to skew American perceptions as to what really constitutes “left” and “right.” CNN is pretty much a moderate, pro-corporate, pro-American network but compared to the rabidly right-wing, flag-waving, “liberal” bashing Fox it _seems_ left-wing to Americans who have no real idea what true left-wing ideology means in the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![kputt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@kputt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kputt)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/30 "2003-08-20T15:09:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\* > > So what gives? \*\* Media hype scaring the public. They never talk about the good things. All bad bad bad. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326/31 "2003-08-20T15:17:30Z")
If the US is going to leave troops in Iraq for a couple years as the leaders are suggesting, it is going to create another 1979ish Afghanistan like situation where Islamic militants from everywhere, notably from or through Iran for now, will come to fight the unbelievers. Maybe that is the strategy, fight them there. At some point we have to kill the thousands of guys who went through the terrorist training camps, the thinking goes, if it’s a cycle of violence, better to fight it away from home. I’m not optimistic about world travel, OTOH. Oh yeah, polling. Dewey Defeats Truman! Also, “Is it becoming” a quagmire is a lot different than “is it a quagmire” in terms of polling results even if not in actual meaning. Always analyze the question, or, some people do. I’d have to say yes to “is it becoming…” I guess by definition it is. US troops are there for the forseeable future. Of course the US was in Vietnam militarily in some capacity from around the early 1960s to 1972-75. Now _that’s_ a quagmire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-s-iraq-quagmire-poll/196326.md?page=1)