EDITORIAL - Ever since the 2000 election debacle one of the favorite generalizations used in every manufactured talking point by any of the spinning heads from the "progressive" left starts with, "The American people..." Of course, the East Coast, Left Coast and inside the Beltway "progressives" don't know what "the American people" say, think or desire. In fact they couldn't find the "fly-over" states with a map...a map that, by the way, happens to be predominantly red.

The use of this phrase by "progressives" proves a few things (and I keep putting the word progressive in quotes because I find the label amusing ? if anything, the agenda championed by the liberal left is destructive not "progressive"): that "progressives" are incredibly out of touch with mainstream America; that they don?t have a problem with saying things without finding out if they are actually true; and that they are willing to fabricate things to achieve their goals.

One of the prime examples of "progressives" using this phrase in an inappropriate manner is the current argument over President Bush?s NSA directive to mine information from phone calls between suspected terrorists inside the country and those they are speaking to outside the country.

According to a December opinion poll done by Rasmussen Reports, 64% of Americans believe that the National Security Agency should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. The last time I checked 64% was not only a majority but a majority with some room to spare. By contrast, only 23% of those polled said that they opposed the action.

In support of this result, when Gallup did a poll asking, "Do you think the Bush administration has gone too far in restricting people's civil liberties in order to fight terrorism," 40% answered that the president was about right in his actions and 19% said he hadn?t gone far enough.

So, when Bob Beckel and Elaine Kamarck make statements meant to imply they know the whole of the American people are outraged because President Bush is listening in to their phone conversations, aside from inaccurately depicting the actions that are being taken, they are trying to say that 23% of the populace constitutes the whole of the American public. That's quite the stretch. It's also quite deceptive and disingenuous.

Another good example of the abuse of the phrase "the American people..." is when the "progressives" talk about the public school system. Ask any card-carrying member of the "progressive" left and they will tell you that test scores are up in the public school system and that all we need to do to get our kids back into the game when it comes to being able to compete with other education systems around the world is to "properly fund" the system and get rid of NCLB.

But when Gallup recently asked the question, "What would be the best way to improve kindergarten through 12th grade education in the U.S. today," the overwhelming answer to the question was that those polled believe a higher quality of teacher training and involvement would be the key to a better educated child. That was followed by a reduced number of students in the classroom and getting back to the basics (I guess that means those polled don't really see the need for our children to be proficient in the application of condoms or the intricacies of homosexual relations ? as diverse as that may be). Only then did "improved school funding" show up, with a response of 7%. The elimination of NCLB and government "interference" received a response only 2% of the time.

When asked how satisfied people were with the overall education our children were receiving through the education system in the United States, 51% indicated that they were either somewhat dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied. That's a far cry from the NEA (read "progressive") standard line of "we're doing great!"

I could go on and on and on but I think you get the point.

So, when you see the "progressive" spinning heads on the news talk shows being asked a question and they start out with, "Well, the American people..." go ahead and allow their "chit-chatty" voices to transform into the "waa-waa-waa" that Charles Schultz used to illustrate monotonous adult voices in his Peanuts cartoons. What is being said is simply a manufactured talking point designed to tell you what to think and only a "progressive" needs to be told what to think.