Proceeding from the assumption that every poll is a push poll, what reason could CNBC and New York Times reporter John Harwood have for hosting his own poll on Twitter this week asking which of the two Americans believe: WikiLeaks, or the U.S. intelligence community?
https://twitter.com/joshuakarla/status/817380123091476480
In short, U.S. intelligence is certain that Russia did something to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump; WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, however, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview this week that the Russian hacking narrative was nothing more than an attempt to distract from the content of the leaked emails.
Harwood pitted the two against each other in his poll, and after more than 84,000 votes, the winner was clearly WikiLeaks.
Who do you believe America?
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 6, 2017
And it turns out the clear loser in the two-way poll asking who America believes was a write-in vote:
https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/817374833784799232
We do not trust you, Harwood.
— Mountainaires (@Mountainaires) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/amadora2700/status/817370130581692417
That probably has a lot to do with Harwood being swept up in WikiLeaks’ dump of John Podesta’s emails. In one, for example, he sent an email to Podesta calling it amazing “… that some people still think it’s worth burning so much interview time with person most likely to be next president on her emails.”
In another, GOP primary debate moderator Harwood wrote to ask the Clinton campaign’s chairman, “What should I ask Jeb?” in advance of an interview with then Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
Um weren't you named in the Wikileaks drops? You're a hack and you should be fired. You are exactly why we hate the media.
— JohnStow? (@SleepingGiant16) January 6, 2017
Your name appeared 257 times in the Podesta Wikileaks. Crony journalism, John. We KNOW. https://t.co/1fs4AbZeaf
— Beth Martin (@BethMar08498031) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Cailin4Trump/status/817372387155054592
@GeoConservative definitely Not you! In fact,Wikileaks proved unequivocally,that you're a corrupt,radical leftist propagandist
— ConserValidity (@ConserValidity) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/1RonnieD/status/817377910948593664
https://twitter.com/OlympianEye/status/817207240037990401
Took your poll. Voted WikiLeaks. Are you the same John Harwood who colluded with Clinton? Asking for friend.#PodestaEmails
— ?MAGADauntlessDiamond? (@diamondgirl2222) January 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/larryhouse/status/817376790712844288
https://twitter.com/OscarWildeGrey/status/817387861481693184
Maybe no more online polls for a little while … you know, until Obama has assured us that Putin knows better than to try to hack the U.S. again.
Oh, hey, looks like the Russian trolls who rigged the Drudge internet polls got to this one too @JohnJHarwood https://t.co/mbYYAGOdEt
— Simon Templar (@SimonTemplarPV) January 6, 2017
So, how did that survey work out for ya? ?
— PattiAnn (@PattiAnn316) January 6, 2017
Did Harwood run this poll by Podesta for approval before he posted it?
— Ig (@Ig_Bricker) January 6, 2017
Out of habit, maybe.
* * *
Bonus:
Harwood still has this retweet from the Washington Post in his timeline, despite the fact the story was debunked.
Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont – The Washington Post https://t.co/ywyElpqbNi
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 31, 2016
Here’s the Washington Post’s follow-up tweet on the Russian’s penetration of the electrical grid:
Update: Vermont utility says it detected malware code in laptop not connected to grid systems https://t.co/DUPAHSGJHv
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 31, 2016
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