The knocking down of polls is one of the more direct forms of aggression in the full-contact sports that is politics.
The latest example comes courtesy of Dan Morris, a spokesman for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, who is trying to bat down the results of a poll showing New Yorkers would be receptive to the opening of a Wal-Mart store here.
Morris' method of attack: connect the poll to Bloomberg:
"The poll was conducted by Doug Schoen, a member of Michael Bloomberg’s inner circle, who now joins Bloomberg’s campaign manager Bradley Tusk and Bloomberg’s Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson in shilling for Walmart. Basic details about methodology, sample size, and interview questions have been deliberately withheld because this is not a credible poll. It was bought and paid for by Walmart. It’s just as deceitful as the polling Bloomberg’s operatives promoted during the 2009 mayoral race: they eventually admitted they knew it had been a tight race all along, after misleading voters and the public."