Polls and What the Right Constitutes as Fringe (*Update)

It has been common practice for right wingers to label anyone who doesn't believe everything they pretend to believe to be outside the norm of mainstream American thinking. All throughout George Bush's presidency we were bombarded by neoconservatives telling us that those of us who didn't support George Bush were part of some media driven hysteria exercising our hatred for America. The same was true during John McCain's candidacy as well. Numerous times McCain's running mate or surrogates reminded us that people who supported Barack Obama were part of "communist country" and not part of "real America." Their core belief for America is that people who don't lockstep down the road with the GOP are fringe members of American society.

Tough talking, macho conservative Republican and Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford perfectly summed all this up the other day. Talking about how as a conservative Republican he cannot rightfully accept $42 million from the stimulus bill for green construction efforts in his state, Sanford proceeded to call supporters of the bill "the real fringe" in American politics. Despite what wackjob Sanford may be saying, the fringe of American politics is as Republican as ever.

Latest polling from Gallup shows 59% of Americans support the passage of the stimulus bill, with 33% opposing. In Sanford's make-believe world 59% is fringe where 33% (a number significantly higher than George Bush's approval rating) is mainstream.

A new poll just released today from Gallup also shows President Obama has increased in popularity among the American population in every identifying factor except for Republicans. In other words, Obama got more popular amongst every group except the very mainstream and non-fringe Republicans.

Contrary to whatever reality may be, in the Republican Fantasy World nothing could be more popular and more mainstream than their Grand Leader who left office with a 20-something approval rating and nothing could be more out of the mainstream than our current president who, somehow, got even more popular with the American people than he already was. This is an epidemic that plagues an entire party from the head down and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.

*Update:

Aaaaahhhh more polls. WaPo has Obama @ 68% and the NY Times has him @ 63%.

How about that very unpopular stimulus bill...64% in the WaPo.

So how are those mainstream Republicans doing? WaPo has them at 38%. The NY Times poll says 63% believe GOP lawmakers opposed the stimulus bill purely for political reasons. But what about their inner-core values and disdain for wasteful spending?

Now remember, in the Republican Fantasy World a 68% job approval is on the fringe of the political spectrum and a 64% approval for a piece of legislation is totally wackjob fringe America. Given this latest round of polling there is no logical reason why there is a Republican Party.