The CBS News-New York Times poll is often one of the most favorable surveys for Democrats, so it was amusing to see Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter complaining to Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown on Tuesday.
Todd wasn’t focusing on the vanishing gender gap or Romney’s lead, but on the vast majority that agreed that the president’s proclamation in favor of gay “marriage” was made for political reasons, not because it was the right thing to do -- 67 percent said it was political, 24 percent right thing. Todd said you can't complain your way out of that canyon. Cutter sputtered on the point: (Video via MRC’s Joe Schoffstall and transcript below)
CHUCK TODD: That’s a lot of people saying he did this for politics. Do you understand why last week looked more political than you ever wanted it to look?
STEPHANIE CUTTER: Well you know we can’t put the methodology of that poll aside, because the methodology was significantly biased.
TODD: You think it’s so flawed that this number –
CUTTER: It is a biased sample.
TODD: – that this three-to-one margin is somehow going to shrink down to the other way>
CUTTER: Well I think that you know I don’t wanna go through methodology on your show.
TODD: I understand.
CUTTER: I think your readers – your viewers would be pretty bored by that.
TODD: They’re junkies. They like this stuff. You’re going to totally dismiss it.
CUTTER: They biased a sample –
TODD: I understand.
CUTTER:– so they re-biased the same sample. So I think the results of that poll are pretty flawed.
Cutter tried to change the subject to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll – but that didn’t ask if Obama made his announcement for political reasons. It simply asked if people had a favorable or unfavorable impression of it (46 percent favorable, 47 percent unfavorable).
Cutter insisted “I think in the end of the day, the president came out and said what he felt was right for this country, his personal belief for this country.” But people knew that Obama was switching positions, and some knew he was switching back to an earlier position, so his flip-flops surely look political to a vast majority, even his supporters.
