'Americans more upbeat' though they're really Not

I used to get so incensed at how the news media takes a statistic and then distorts it for its own ideological or progagandistic purposes..

But it happens so often and is so obvious to anyone that I laugh now...

~ see, I'm happy..

Here's today's rib-tickling knee-slapper...

AP-GfK poll: Americans more upbeat about economy (AP) -- "Americans are growing more optimistic about the U.S. economy, a sentiment that is benefiting President Barack Obama... more than 2 out of 5 people believe the U.S. economy will get better"

~  Um.. that means about 3 out of 5 people believe the economy WON'T be getting better..  that doesn't sound like America's too upbeat...

continuing the article...

"Forty-five percent of those polled in the AP-GfK survey said the country was now moving in the right direction... And attitudes about life in general remained positive, with 4 out of 5 respondents saying they were happy or somewhat happy with their circumstances. "Once you hit bottom the only one way to go is up," said John Bair, 23, a photographer and filmmaker from Pittsburgh."

~ Um, that means 55% said the nation was NOT moving in the right direction.  Also, quite an interesting quote AP includes to try to demonstrate American positivity...

"Once you hit bottom the only one way to go is up"

Just like the famous Beatles song lyric sung by Paul McCartney,  "I've got to believe its getting better.. A little better all the time" , to which John Lennon chimes in "It can't get much worse".

continuing...

"For all the long-term confidence that the economy will recover, the public is hardly upbeat about the current state of things. Only 21 percent describe the economy as good and 73 percent describe it as poor. About 1 in 5 thought the economy got better during the past month; an equal number thought it got worse."

~  Well, like the famous Annie song, people will always believe "The sun will come out Tomorrow".. but funny that for an AP news article header which was so upbeat and optimistic, the Truth appears in paragraph 13.  Just about 3 in 4 people say the economy is POOR.  Not good... not fair...   About 1 in 5 thought the economy is better.  The term "about 1" means not even a full 20% felt this way.  That means a little more than 4 out 5 people felt last month the economy stayed the same or got worse.

And Yet.. AP's headline was "Americans more upbeat about Economy"

**  Photos are of the late, great comedian Sam Kinison