“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, (1804-1881)
In yet another boring and putrid diatribe about the “out of touch” Republicans, Kathy Sullivan is predicting a widespread ousting of Republicans in Concord in 2012. In the Union Leader’s Another View Opposite Editorial, the Shrill Kathy declares, “Granite Staters already regret voting Republican last November”. Relying on a May 3 UNH Survey Center Poll, the Shrill Kathy asserts, “The results show New Hampshire residents, or at least those providing this snapshot, rejecting the hard-right turn taken by Republicans since the 2010 election…” Wow! that’s pretty grim. Or is it really?
But unlike the Shrill Kathy, I provided a link above that enables the reader to actually look at the actual data. And what Andrew Smith of the UNH Survey Center says about the data is, “Lynch remains popular in the state, growing concern about the direction of the state.” That is significantly different from what the Shill Kathy’s interpretation tells us. Factually, the narrative states that 54% of New Hampshire adults feel the state is heading in the right direction, 39% think the state is seriously off on the wrong track, and 7% don’t know. This Legislature and Senate is four and a half months into the term. Granite-Staters, nearly always express concern about legislative initiatives, but they are also fair-minded people and a lot less partisan that the Shrill Kathy would have us believe.
The Shrill Kathy goes on to predict the Republicans may not survive the next election, taking a direct shot at the TEA Part candidates who were elected in November, painting them as “out of touch” with the mainstream of New Hampshire. What is truly amazing is how the Shrill Kathy steered clear of the concrete issues like state spending. She was cricket-chirping silent when the last Legislature attempted to transform the state into some bastion of liberalism, more reflective of our neighbors to the south, yet it was at that point the voters totally rejected the direction the Legislature undertook with their route of the Democratic majority.
And John Lynch is deserving of his high popularity numbers. His ongoing metric of not taking a solid position on any of the tough issues facing the state…that is until he absolutely has to, has served him extremely well.
The Shrill Kathy then plays a bit of shell politics, dredging up an issue from the campaign that obviously didn’t resonate with voters. She diatribes about Frank Guinta’s campaign filings and the $355,000 funding that Carol SEIU-Porter made a hallmark of her attacks in the campaign. She then proceeds to pick at Charlie Bass and Kelly Ayotte, leaving no walnut shell unturned.
And how about the Shrill Kathy’s Predictions? A year ago, she opined in yet another UL Op-ed, “A Surprise awaits in the election this fall in the first congressional district,” where she predicts Carol SEIU-Porter will handily beat Frank Guinta, maintaining her congressional seat. And when the election results were in, Guinta had handily won the seat by a 11-point margin, beating Carol in every precinct in her hometown of Rochester.
The Shrill Kathy is always an entertaining read for me. The rank anger and bluster jumps right off the page like a kitchy horror movie and makes the morning coffee appreciable.
