A Stupid Choice classic from my youth!

Fox News is determined to show that America hates the Occupy Wall Street protesters, and keeps devising polls increasingly rigged to make their case. This morning Roger Ailes’ culture warriors unveiled a new one, so intellectually dishonest, so devoid of survey legitimacy, that it made me do a Danny Thomas spit-take that soaked my Washington Post with coffee. The question (Note: This is from memory; as of this writing, I cannot find the exact phrasing posted anywhere. When I have it, I’ll use it. This is a fair approximation, however.): “What would you want your child to do when he or she grows up?” The options: 1. Working on Wall Street 2. Occupying Wall Street 3. Neither.

The “surprising results,” as one of Fox’s cloned blond bimbo news-readers bubbled:

44% chose Wall Street

28% chose Occupy Wall Street

18% chose “Neither”

Fox financial commentator Stuart Varney was shocked that 28% would choose the protesters “who want to redistribute income!” over Wall Street. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but that is un-American.”

Oh, cool your jets, Stuart. The poll is un-American; the 28% are fine, given the dishonest, false choice presented by Fox’s poll. Continue reading →