So many scandals to choose from
It has been said that, the more a scandal tends to prove the public’s perception about a politician, the more traction the scandal gets. A scandal involving Bill Clinton’s dalliances with women that are not his wife is far more believable than one involving George H.W. Bush. On the other hand, a scandal involving George W. Bush’s ties to Big Oil™ is more believable than one involving Al Gore. Both are possible, but one is far more plausible.
Last Friday, FoxNews’s Special Report with Brett Baier asked viewers which scandal is more damaging to the Obama administration, Solyndra, LightSquared or Fast & Furious. You no doubt recall that Solyndra involves the reckless waste of taxpayer money; LightSquared involves the coercing of Congressional witnesses for financial gain; and Fast & Furious is the Obama’s misguided attempt to argue for more gun control track gun runners by selling them guns and giving them get out of jail free cards.
So the question is, (to FoxNews viewers) which is more believable about Obama: wasteful spending; corruption or lax and incompetent criminal justice policies. The results were: 71% said Solyndra; 23% said Fast & Furious and only 6% said LightSquared. The take home point here, is that Fox viewers believe Obama can be wasteful and even incompetent, but corrupt doesn’t ring as true.
To me, this is surprising, given the Chicago political swamp in which Obama rose. To be fair (to the Fox viewers), LightSquared only broke on Friday, and may not have resonated with them yet. With the recent allegations of a misogynistic atmosphere in the White House, it would be fascinating to see which of these scandals resonate most with voters. In any event, Allan Lichtman may need to revisit his Key to the White House prediction.