So, I get this email from the Dallas Tea Party group that is coordinating the Craddick crony campaign with the subject line:
POLL : 89{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of GOP Primary Voters Want a Conservative House Speaker
Right away, you know something is awry. You can’t get 9 out of 10 people off the street to agree on anything. Here is the body of the email:
Heritage Alliance Press Release
DALLAS, Dec. 8, 2010 – In the first round of an ongoing, informal telephone poll, Heritage Alliance found more than 89 percent of registered Republican primary voters in favor of a more conservative Texas House Speaker to lead next year’s session.
In polling that began one week after the November elections, Heritage Alliance surveyed 8,238 “1R” voters—those who had participated in at least one recent GOP primary— in 43 of 99 GOP-held State House districts. (Voters were not polled in 21 districts where the State Representative had already called for a new State House Speaker.)
When asked, “If you want your State Representative to support a true conservative Republican for House Speaker, instead of a moderate Republican, press 1,” more than 89 percent indicated they wanted a more conservative Speaker….
Okay, these weren’t off the street voters, these were 1R primary voters. Fair enough, much easier to get mass agreement from that group. But they don’t give us a clue as to how many people responded to the automated (robo) call, so that takes away some credibility. And then you see the question they posed and whoops, there goes the credibility of Heritage Alliance and the Dallas Tea Party group.
“If you want your State Representative to support a true conservative Republican for House Speaker, instead of a moderate Republican, press 1,”
Well, color me surprised! What a shocker that Republican primary voters would prefer a conservative over a moderate! Heck, I could have told you that without bothering to send out 9,000 robocalls. Good grief.
Let’s reword the question:
“If you want your State Representative to support the current conservative Republican Speaker, press 1. If you prefer that he be replaced with a “True” Christian who will grow government, press 2”.
Or, how about:
“If you want your State Representative to support the current conservative Republican Speaker, press 1. If you prefer that he be replaced by a whack job that thinks evolution science is based on Rabbinic writings in the mystic “holy book” Kabbala dating back at least two millennia, press 2.”
Or,
“If you want your State Representative to support the current conservative Republican Speaker, press 1. If you prefer that he be replaced by a truther and/or a birther, press 2.”
A completely, utterly bogus poll.
Maybe it is better that these guys are focusing on Joe Straus instead of “helping” their representatives write legislation. Can you imagine what they would come up with?