[UPDATE: Matthews addressed the Daily Kos/Research 2000 polling issue on the June 30 Hardball.]
With the news that Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas is suing the polling group Research 2000 [1]
for providing "bunk" results that his Web site published, the question
has to be asked: Will those figures in the media who've advanced Daily
Kos poll results, like MSNBC's Hardball host Chris Matthews, let their
viewers know of the suspect data? Back on the February 2, 2010 edition
of Hardball, Matthews as part of his Sideshow segment, alerted viewers
to the results of "a wild new poll of Republicans" that showed 58
percent of them didn't believe or weren't sure that Barack Obama was
born in the U.S. and 64 percent of GOPers agreed or weren't sure that
the President was a "racist who hates white people." Matthews granted
the poll so much credence he cited Research 2000's discovery that 68
percent of its Republican respondents wanted Obama impeached as that
day's "Big Number."
The following is from the "Sideshow" segment aired during the February 2 edition of Hardball:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Next, a wild new poll of Republicans just came out. It's conducted by Research 2000 and sponsored by the progressive blog Daily Kos. Catch these figures. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans polled say no or not sure when asked if President Obama was born in the U.S. Whoa! Seventy-nine percent say yes or no or not sure, rather, to the question of whether he's a socialist. Sixty-four percent, about two-thirds, say yes or not sure on if the President's a racist who hates white people. And 57 percent of Republicans say yes or not sure on whether he wants the terrorists to win. And here's the wildest number of them all, tonight's Hardball "Big Number." How many Republicans in this poll think President Obama should be impeached? Sixty-eight percent said yes or not sure to the question of whether Barack Obama should be impeached now. I guess, if you think the guy's an illegal immigrant, you figure he's got to be impeached. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans say either yes or not sure on impeachment of this president. Tonight's hard-to-fathom "Big Number."
UPDATE: Chris Matthews, on Wednesday's Hardball,
noted that Moulitsas is suing Research 2000, however he did not remind
viewers that he himself had advanced some of that faulty polling. The following is Matthews' notification of the Daily Kos lawsuit as it was aired on the June 30 Hardball:
MATTHEWS: Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos is suing the polling outfit Research 2000. Moulitsas says he was defrauded by the pollster in the State of the Nation polls published on the Daily Kos Web site, were quote, "likely bunk." Moulitsas promises a lawsuit against Research 2000 in the next day or two. Hardball will be right back.
-Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here [2]