UPDATE: (6/30/11 9:51 AM PST) – Our friend Scott Wooledge at Daily Kos sent us the above shots of the WBEN poll (spaced 30 minutes apart) which suggests that the station is deleting votes… just as one does in a popular autocracy.
Wooledge asked WBEN General Manager Tim Wenger why there was 4 no choices and 1 “ok” choice as well as who wrote the poll and whether it indicative of an overall homophobic environment at WBEN. Wooledge then received this douchey response:
Think about it. It doesn’t matter how many choices there are. You get to vote once for whatever your position may be.
Makes no difference in the outcome of the poll.
Thanks for conveying your displeasure.
Maybe we should start a poll asking whether Tim Wenger is an ass-castle—I vote four times yes.
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How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Remember that one FOX News poll that let you sound off on the ordination of gay clergy by offering one of two responses both condemning homosexuality? Well, WBEN Buffalo is hosting a biased gay-marriage poll with four strongly worded-options against marriage equality and one blandly-worded option that says ‘I’m “OK” with gay marriage.’ Be sure to vote “OK” and then to sign this petition against WBEN’s poll. Also, you can call the station at (800) 616-9236 and let them know how much you appreciate their poll. Also, feel free to call the Ross Eye Institute at 716-881-7900 and ask how they feel about sponsoring this particular poll. Isn’t asking questions rad?
beerwad
Hah! “I’m OK” is winning by a landslide!
Riker
+1 support, and I had a quick phone call with my State Senator, who is one of the probable swing votes in New York, to explain to him why it would benefit *him* to say Yes. Most of his consituents are young families with children, most of the people are religious in a very loose sense (soccer matches take precedence over church on Sundays) and his district is fair-minded and one of the more liberal areas of New York.
PLAINTOM
I can’t wait to see the radio station whining that the evil gays sabotaged their poll.
gregger
Brilliant that Ok is at 74%. Frack Faux News in any of its iterations.
randy
I just voted. Thanks for the heads up.
greybat
I think I’d rather be a ‘bland” Liberal than a fiery Conservative anyway. You get invited to nicer places!
Pitou
I just voted.
If you click the “click here for past poll results” this poll, on the side of the screen, continues to lists its “current” numbers, and I shit you not.. click that “click here for past poll results” once every 5 minutes… and the number is different EVERY SINGLE TIME!
What a crock of shit these people are!!!
Chris
Who cares? It’s an online poll.
gregger
It’s Fux News, what do you expect? BTW, as of 2:05p today it was 4790 votes (okay at 72%).
Gray
Is OK generally put in quotation marks?
Clarknt67
You should care about the topic of how the media manipulates the public when discussing our issues.
Awful question framing, silencing our support by deleting votes? All reinforce ideas that gay people are deeply unpopular, widely hated and only a very foolish politician would vote in support of their causes. (And then we wonder why they won’t?)
And we should expect better from a company that purports to be a “news” outlet.
This is not news, it is religious right propaganda.
Tony
They’re deleting votes alright. Earlier today when I voted there were 2733 votes for ok. Having worked in TV, I’m pretty sure that breaks several FCC rules.
Hal Shipman
Looks like they removed the poll entirely. I can’t find a link to it in any of their stories on the subject. If you have a direct link, that’d be a huge help.
Gray
@Hal Shipman: It’s right on the front page of the WBEN wesbite. http://www.wben.com
Dick
Knowing they are going to lose in the Senate, the station has changed their poll to Whether the issue should be decided by the legislature or at the polls.
http://www.wben.com/
Clarknt67
The new poll just shows how stupid they are. They can wish all they want but New York has no ballot initiative process.
Zack
Anybody else notice that the total number of votes adds up to 101%?
ThatRandomGuy
http://www.wben.com/Poll-Results-Archive/3607901
we win again, 76%. must have been updated again.