Simply dumb or seriously manipulated?

Let me be frank, and I don't mean to offend anybody but, I don't know any nation, particularly in the developed countries, lower in independent analytical power than the American people. Otherwise, how could it be that the public opinion, about significant issues such as Iraq war, so-called war on terrorism, and George Bush's approval rating, in the US fluctuates so frequently and so significantly in such a short time?

Americans have been too slow in realizing what has been happening in their names, and now that they are slowly; very slowly, waking up from their sleep, they are still played with by whoever who can manipulate them more effectively. They have practically become like mold which takes the desired shape, based on the forces applied to it. It is a shame that with so much technology available to them, with so much access to the internet which can be a great source of information, the general American public has no real opinion of its own. The question is whether Americans are just simply not smart enough to recognize bad from good, fraud from honesty, crime against humanity from liberating humanity and so on, or the level of manipulation in the US is much more that thought and is systematically pressing the soft brains of the Americans to the "desired" shape. Whatever it is, so much sudden fluctuations (in either direction) in the public opinion about the non-fluctuating subjects is an indication of an intellectually non-functional society. And yes, it is sad, and even worse, dangerous that there is so much power in the hands of the country with such ineffective guardians (the people) who are ideally supposed to ensure the power is not abused.

This little article might be a good indication of how serious the intellectual problem in the US is.