Ever since the Republicans won in 2004, Democrats and their mainstream media allies have been working incessantly (and often insidiously) to achieve Democrat majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2006 elections.
The mainstream media consensus, otherwise known as the conventional wisdom, has been that the Democrats would win the House of Representatives and probably the Senate.
The mainstream media has an agenda and it's not the Republican agenda.
Poll after poll was reported. The stated message: Dems are winning! The subtle message: go with the winners.
The exit polls on Election Day 2004 made Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts President.
But President Bush actually was re-elected.
In 2000, Dan Rather, then with CBS, called Florida for Albert Gore, which would have made him President.
But President Bush actually won Florida and the Presidency.
Are polls manipulated for political purposes?
Does that thought shock you?
It should not.
James Zogby is a prominent pollster.
A Republican, he's not.
A Democrat, he is.
A supporter of Israel, he's not.
A support of "Palestine," he is. (He interviewed the late Yasser Arafat on his television show.)
Herewith much of Dr. Zogby's biography posted at his Arab American Institute:
"Dr. James J. Zogby is founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and AAI have led Arab American efforts to secure political empowerment in the U.S. Through voter registration, education and mobilization, AAI has moved Arab Americans into the political mainstream.
"For the past three decades, Dr. Zogby has been involved in a full range of Arab American issues. A co-founder and chairman of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in the late 1970s, he later co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In 1982, he co-founded Save Lebanon, Inc., a private non-profit, humanitarian and non-sectarian relief organization which funds health care for Palestinian and Lebanese victims of war, and other social welfare projects in Lebanon. In 1985, Zogby founded AAI.
"In 1993, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in Washington, he was asked by Vice President Al Gore to lead Builders for Peace, a private sector committee to promote U.S. business investment in the West Bank and Gaza. In his capacity as co-president of Builders, Zogby frequently traveled to the Middle East with delegations led by Vice President Gore and late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. In 1994, with former U.S. Congressman Mel Levine, his colleague as co-president of Builders, Zogby led a U.S. delegation to the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Cairo. Zogby also chaired a forum on the Palestinian economy at the Casablanca Economic Summit in 1994. After 1994, through Builders, Zogby worked with a number of US agencies to promote and support Palestinian economic development, including AID, OPIC, USTDA, and the Departments of State and Commerce.
"Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years. Most recently, Zogby was elected a co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee (NDECC), an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent. On September 24, 1999, the NDECC elected Dr. James Zogby as its representative to the Democratic National Committee’s Executive Committee. In 2005 he was appointed as chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee.
"A lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues, U.S.-Arab relations, and the history of the Arab American community, Dr. Zogby appears frequently on television and radio. He has appeared as a regular guest on all the major network news programs. After hosting the popular 'A Capital View' on the Arab Network of America for several years, he now hosts 'Viewpoint with James Zogby' on Abu Dhabi Television, LinkTV, Dish Network, and DirecTV [broadcast schedule].
"Since 1992, Dr. Zogby has also written a weekly column on U.S. politics for the major newspapers of the Arab world. The column, Washington Watch, is currently published in 14 Arab countries. He has authored a number of books including two recent publications, 'What Ethnic Americans Really Think' and 'What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.'
"Dr. Zogby has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees, has been guest speaker on a number of occasions in the Secretary’s Open Forum at the U.S. Department of State, and has addressed the United Nations and other international forums. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award from the U.S. Department of State 'in recognition of outstanding contributions to national and international affairs.'
"Dr. Zogby is also active professionally beyond his involvement with the Arab American community. He currently serves on the national advisory board of the American Civil Liberties Union, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he is a Senior Analyst for the polling firm Zogby International."
Zogby International was founded and has been led by Dr. Zogby's brother John.
Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that Newsmax just reported:
"One of the nation's leading pollsters says the Republicans are down, but not out, as they head into the final stretch toward the November midterm elections.
"'Make no mistake about it, Republicans are on the ropes,' declares John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, the hottest pollster in the country today.
"But in an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Zogby acknowledges that the GOP could still make a late comeback as various Republican-leaning groups 'come back home.'"
Newsmax also reported that "[John] Zogby has also agreed to host a show on Nova M Radio, a new liberal radio network based in Phoenix, Ariz."
So what is liberal John Zogby doing to thrill Chris Matthews, chief Dem cheerleader and John Kerry apologist (until Senator Kerry hurt Mr. Matthews' grievously by finally using an A word: apology): he's saying the Republicans are on the ropes.
BUT, he's also leaving himself a big out: maybe my poll does NOT reflect what will happen on Election Day.
Perhaps the Dems should run an commercial with this message: "Republicans, please don't vote. Stay home instead."
At least it would have the virtual of frankness.
To those who wanted more and better from President Bush: be glad Senator John "poor students end up stuck in Iraq" Kerry is not President Kerry, be thankful for Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and remember that the Republicans' Senate majority is not filibuster-proof and obstructionism is the Democrat plan.
Congress needs working Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress, not Harry "We killed The Patriot Act" Reid as Senate Majority Leader, "San Fran Nan" Pelosi as Speaker of the House, Florida's Alcee Hastings, a former federal judge who was impeached and removed from office by a Democrat-controlled Congress, heading the House Intelligence Committee, New York City's Charles Rangel raising federal taxes as House Way & Means Committee Chairman, and Detroit's John Conyers paralyzing the federal government by conducting investigations as House Judiciary Committee Chairman with a view toward impeaching the President and the Vice President for fighting the War on Terror.
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.