Tired of Stupid People

My patience is running out. I'm beginning to ponder the usefulness of 'Stupidity' laws...

So says USA Today in a story called "Prices at the pump keep tumbling." Gas stations are beginning to have price wars to lure customers. But surely the strangest detail in the story is a reference to the possibility that the White House is manipulating the price of gas: "A hefty 42% of Americans polled over the weekend said they think fuel prices are being manipulated by the Bush administration to help Republicans in an election year." Yes. That must be it.

Straight from USA Today: A hefty 42% of Americans polled over the weekend said they think fuel prices are being manipulated by the Bush administration to help Republicans in an election year. The USA TODAY/Gallup Poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

And though you'd think common-sense might be enough to instruct otherwise, you even have people in the know quoted in the next paragraph: Petroleum analysts say the reasons are less Machiavellian: Supplies are above average, partly because summer's high prices attracted record imports. Hurricanes haven't knocked out Gulf of Mexico production. U.S. regulations permit a cheaper-to-make fuel blend in fall and winter.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, there is not any manipulation, and it has nothing to do with the approaching election," says Peter Beutel, head of energy-price consultant Cameron Hanover. The petroleum market is "too big a market to manipulate. The price just could not sustain itself."

And yet, assuming these results are statistically sound and the results can be inferred across the general population (a logical assumption for such a study, but still just an assumption) than 42% of America is stupid. Or woefully ignorant.

And I fail to see a practical difference.