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Report just issues, mapes finally fired

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL DICK THORNBURGH AND LOUIS D. BOCCARDI ON THE SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY SEGMENT “FOR THE RECORD” CONCERNING PRESIDENT BUSH’S TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE JANUARY 5, 2005 KIRKPATRICK & LOCKHART NICHOLSON GRAHAM LLP Michael J. Missal, Esq. Lawrence Coe Lanpher, Esq. 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 778-9000 Counsel to the Independent Review Panel i TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1 II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...............................................................................................4 A. 60 Minutes Wednesday Background..............................................................................6 B. The Pursuit of a Story on President Bush’s TexANG Service ......................................7 C. Obtaining Documents ....................................................................................................8 D. The Production of...

In May 2003, I suggested in this space that the exit polls would need more than a makeover. I also questioned the wisdom of putting veteran exit pollster Warren Mitofsky in charge. Shortly thereafter, I received a telephone call from Mitofsky, who, naturally, expressed his disagreement with my opinions. Later in the year, I heard from Mitofsky again when I criticized his exit polls in the California gubernatorial recall election. I’ll say this for him: Mitofsky is a great flack. And he must be a great salesman. Anyone who can talk the networks into giving him $10 million for the...

By Jim Emerson Editor, RogerEbert.com October 14, 2004Who's the, uh, biggest villain in "Team America"? Kim Jong Il or Hollywood celebrities?"You should learn to keep your opinions OUT of your reviews!" Every critic I know has received at least one letter like that from an indignant reader. Of course, it's an absurd proposition; critics are paid to express their opinions, and the good ones (who exercise what is known across all disciplines as "critical thinking") are also able to cite examples and employ sound reasoning to build an argument, showing you how and why they reached their verdict. Well, since...

The first thing we have to realize is that media liberals tried to throw the election for the party of the ass again. Of course, this newsletter's readers were alerted[1] back in issue 321 (Another Election Reporting SNAFU Coming Up). In a nutshell, the failed Voter News Service was replaced by two groups headed by former CBS News reporters with their election results funneled to Associated Press to tabulate and disseminate to media outlets. So, we had the very-left (Bush Administration haters) AP essentially programming most news outlets on election results. AP will never be confused with fair and balanced...

Dan Rather, the CBS anchor who is well past his sell-by date, was verging on losing it in the early morning hours of November 3. Ed Bradley had carried out a mathematical calculation that showed that George W. Bush needed only to obtain 15 per cent of Ohio’s absentee and provisional ballots to win the state and the presidency. A visibly upset Rather then came out with one of his famous Danisms--just because a chicken has wings, doesn’t mean it can fly. In a poignant comment, Bradley defended himself by saying that he wasn’t making the math up--the figures came...

Please take a few moments to send the following email to the Federal Communications Commission at: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov; fccinfo@fcc.govOr, CLICK HERE to generate a pre-addressed email. Subject:  Two Alleged FCA ViolationsDear Chairman Powell,The FCC has previously has ruled that broadcasters, as public trustees, may not intentionally distort the news. The FCC has stated that "rigging or slanting the news is a most heinous act against the public interest."  I am writing to alert the FCC to two potential violations of this ruling that have occurred over the past two weeks.  The FCC must carry out it's statutory duty -- i.e. implementing...

Thanks to lessons learned four years ago when big media made some wrong calls, the average American watching television Tuesday night got a pretty accurate picture of how the election was going. But for about seven hours in the afternoon and early evening, several million "insiders" with access to exit-poll data -- blog readers, print journalists, TV executives, politicos and their e-mail buddies -- had a different impression. Aided by wishful thinking in some cases, many were convinced that John Kerry was benefitting from a powerful voter surge. The news largely wasn't reported on TV or in newspapers, but for...

Polling firm Zogby International accurately predicted President Bush's Ohio victory, as well as the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota, and accurately forecast the outcome of every Senate race in our final battleground poll, conducted October 29 through November 1, 2004. The margin of error was +/- 4.1 percentage points. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE -2004 STATE BUSH KERRY CO-Actual 53% 46% CO-Zogby 49% 47% FL-Actual 52% 47% FL-Zogby 48% 48% IA-Actual 50% 49% IA-Zogby 45% 50% MI-Actual 48% 51% MI-Zogby 46% 52% MN-Actual 48% 51% MN-Zogby 45% 51% NV-Actual 51% 48% NV-Zogby 50% 45% NM-Actual 50% 49% NM-Zogby...

Statement from John Zogby on 2004 Presidential Election Results: “We feel strongly that our pre-election polls were accurate on virtually every state. Our predictions on many of the key battleground states like Ohio and Florida were within the margin of error. I thought we captured a trend, but apparently that result didn’t materialize. “We always saw a close race, and a close race is what we’ve got. I’ve called this the Armageddon Election for some time—a closely-divided electorate with high partisan intensity on each side."

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- President Bush declared victory in his race for re-election Wednesday, telling his cheering supporters that "America has spoken." "We've worked hard and gained many new friends, and the result is now clear -- a record voter turnout and a broad, nationwide victory," Bush said.

November 03, 2004 Ed Bradley Calls Election for Bush on CBS, Rather Objects In a rather testy on-air exchange, circa 12:30am PST, between Dan Rather, CBS anchor, and Ed Bradley, long-time corresponent for CBS's 60 Minutes and an election night commentator, Bradley rather roundly criticized both Kerry and his own network for not accepting the obvious mathematics and calling the election for Bush. Bradley pointed out that Bush leads Kerry by 145,000 votes in Ohio, and even if 250,000 provisional ballots remain (which he considered a high estimate), and that even if all the provisional ballots are valid, Kerry would...

When the exit polling data showing Sen. John Kerry performing strongly leaked out this afternoon, it sent Wall Street into a tailspin. But as actual vote totals came in after the polls closed, it appeared the exit polls were inaccurate. The exit polls made it more difficult for television newscasters to project winners because of the conflicting data. Exit polls are surveys of voters leaving the polling places and are designed to provide data about what voters are thinking, rather than to provide evidence of trends in vote counts. Political websites gave Kerry an early lead over President Bush in...

bottom line, CBS and ABC have called Nevada, but NBC has NOT called Nevada, but called Ohio. So, they are all just spinning, spinning, spinning and hoping to bait bush into calling the election (Jennings came right out and baited bush to come over and comment). If ever, there was proof these people work together, this last minute crap is utter sheer proof. Bush will wait until the results are certified by the sec of states until the numbers are lock tight. He won't fall for the bait.

ABC, CBS, and CNN have all called Nevada for George W. Bush. But NBC, the one network besides Fox News that has called Ohio for the President, is holding back. Why? I'll go ahead and advance an answer. They do not want the President to give a victory speech tonight after a major network has declared him victorious. Just how much of the MSM can we take? I understand Fox News holding back, they've been vilified for being too close to the Republicans, but NBC just wants to stick it to Bush tonight.

IN the end, George W. Bush won the elec tion. But the net works were afraid to report that fact to us because their exit polls showed Kerry winning. Conditioned to believe that exit polls could never be wrong, the news anchors were left stuttering and stammering. [snip]Like the network anchors on election night, I concluded that Kerry would win in a walk. But then the returns came in. In state after state, it became clear that Bush was running ahead of his performance in 2000: first, Kentucky, three points better, then Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, all...

Rather: "if you had to bet the double-wide, you'll bet that he (Bush) wins"

HOUSTON (Reuters) - In the midst of a key national election on Tuesday, Texas, the leading death penalty state, took time out to execute a man for a 1990 murder. Lorenzo Morris, 52, received a lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. in the state's 19th execution this year. He was the 332nd person put to death in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Morris was condemned for killing Jesse Fields, 70, on Aug. 5, 1990 by slashing his throat and beating him with a hammer after breaking into his Houston home and demanding money. Morris had no...

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DAYTON, Ohio, Nov 1 (AFP) - Voters in the battleground state of Ohio were poised to approve a measure banning gay marriage so sweeping it is opposed by prominent businessmen as well as the state's Republican governor and Republican senators. State voters on Tuesday will choose between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry for president, and also vote on a state constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage and same-sex civil unions. According to opinion polls the amendment has overwhelming support. The measure defines marriage as between a man and a woman -- but also bans any "legal status for...