To get an accurate understanding of what people are really thinking you need something like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory which is designed to identify “issues” that people have. [It was used in New York to get rid of whackos trying to get police jobs.]

I still think the Republicans have regressed to Black Adder. You should note that Peston referred to a “Baldrick cunning plan” when discussing his solution for the crisis.

Opinion Polls: Getting the results you want

To make up for my error… Here’s another, from the original “Yes Minister” series. 😉 It’s a brilliant show of political double-speak. LOL

Yes Minister – Government policy policy

Again… Enjoy! 😀

Yes, Prime Minister did a sketch decades ago on the power of the poll’s! I found it on YouTube (of course). I think it addresses the issue well and is as valid today as in the 80’s (or any time really). 🙂 As with Discworld, much about the realities of today can be learned by watching “Yes Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister”. 😉 😀

Yes, Prime Minister – A clear conscience

Enjoy! 😉

it’s a lot more work, and you have to be able to think on your feet, to actually listen to people, ask them to clarify if you don’t understand, and them synthesize it all, but that’s really the only way.

polls are just soooo much fun — look at all the wonderful numbers i can generate! every once in a while, you get someone who does a reasonably good job of designing questions, but mostly the people who come up with the question for polls don’t realize how often someone hears — and answers — a different question from what the pollster thinks they’re asking.

One of the things that seems to really annoy people it that I don’t want to convince them of anything. I tell them I know what I know, and stake my opinion on what I know, not what I “believe”. After years of knowing things that other people didn’t, I don’t want to get into debates over stupid issues. As long as what they are doing doesn’t affect me or mine, I don’t care. If they ask I’ll tell what I think, but I’m not going to hold seminars on my reasons.

Most the people in the US have never lived in a foreign country. Taking a trip is not living there. Flying in, staying in a hotel, eating at restaurants, is not living in a country.

When you have to deal with the local merchants and officials; when you have to comply with local regulations; when you have to pay local taxes and fees; that’s living in a country. If you want to know about another country, try to get a telephone installed or get a plumbing problem fixed.

As a result of this isolation, the people in the US have a very limited view of the world. Asians have the ability to drive Americans around the bend, because most Americans don’t understand that they will do anything to avoid a conflict. If they tell you your dry cleaning will be ready tomorrow, they mean next week, because they know you want to hear tomorrow.

For whatever reason, Americans take it personally that people who don’t agree with them exist.

People tell me all the time I’m cynical and a pessimist. My response is that I’m just a realist. In my lifetime the safe bet has always been: they will screw it up.

Hah! 😀 Oh yeah! Same here. 😉 LOL And don’t *people* HATE when you say “I’m a realist”, especially when face-to-face and you say it completely deadpan. LOL People are so easily offended… 😉 At least, the ones who know somewhere in that honest part of themselves that they are full of it certainly are! You can easily tell the worst ones. They will try very hard to convince or cajole you into believing their view. You and I know that if the facts were present, we would believe. The foolish *true believers* don’t (and perhaps, can’t) understand that simple truth, whilst the crooks know it and will do whatever they can to take your mind off looking at, or for, the *facts*. The current US Government is firmly in that camp.

For us, realism = truth and honesty. For most people, fantasy is so much easier, until reality bites them hard, as it inevitably does. Then they scream the loudest, whilst we just look at them and *shrug* and smile (which I love doing as it infuriates them even more!) 😉 😀 My Grandfather taught me how to deal with the Schoolyard bullies (and bullies generally) as a child. First, he taught me how to defend myself and how to deal with fear, then he taught me to ridicule and laugh loudly at them. This infuriates them and they rush in where an intelligent, calm person would take time to consider and evaluate. Then I’d beat the crap out of them, as I was prepared and able and they were no longer. Anger can give speed and strength, but is self-defeating against someone trained to take advantage of the blindness it also causes. It was one of the reasons the Military decided to train me in SpecOps. 🙂 Part of the training was to spot the leader in a group. Every group has a natural *leader*, even if sometimes none of them is aware of it. It’s stood me in good stead throughout my life. Works wonders in certain meetings for example! 😉 LOL Though, these days, I no longer have to *physically* beat people up, even thought I’d sometimes love to! I learned a lot about using body language and NLP. It’s an awesome power when one can emasculate a man with just the right look and attitude, and sometimes a few simple, quiet, words. 🙂

Life, eh… Who’d have one? 😉 LOL

The world is operating on the assumption that polling and focus groups can’t tell you what people are thinking. If you really listen to people, you learn that they will almost always say what they think other people want to hear, rather than what they think. The secret ballot makes polling and focus groups a fool’s errand.

The key to success politically is to convince people that you are right, and they should think what you think. Liberals don’t seem to perceive this truism. They seem reluctant to lead. They keep seeking consensus where there is none.

My favorite candidate is Al Franken who is running for the US Senate in the state of Minnesota. It’s time we had a professional comedian in the Senate, the amateurs just can’t cut it. His opponent, the incumbent Norm Coleman, is a clown, but not of a humorous mold.

People tell me all the time I’m cynical and a pessimist. My response is that I’m just a realist. In my lifetime the safe bet has always been: they will screw it up.

Not that I do, or ever have, given a damn about what others think of me. 😉 Unless they are firmly in the small group of people who’s opinions have been proven legitimate and valid and honest over time. 🙂 It’s a small group. LOL

Anyway… an observation, FWIW! 😀

I certainly hope that he can finish the tax book. It took a boy wizard to knock him off his spot at the tip of the best sellers, but he stayed strong through a long run.