Posted on 11/05/2004 5:21:37 PM PST by txradioguy
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
I want to apologize to those of you in this audience. I missed something crucial yesterday. I have an -- it's not an excuse. I have a reason. The reason I missed it is that I don't read the New York Times and nobody on my staff reads the New York Times. And so nobody saw it. But it was a big story. Huge story. I'm going to take you back to late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning. You're watching TV and you see New Mexico out there, and when it comes to Ohio, only Fox and NBC called Ohio. The rest didn't all night long. No call in Iowa, no call in New Mexico, no network would make a call that would put Bush over 269 electoral votes. CNN had it stuck at 254 to 252. C-SPAN had it 254 to 252. We had NBC and Fox at 269 and other than nobody would make a call that would end this. Here's why. And it was in the New York Times yesterday in a story by Jodi Wilgoren, and the headline: At Finish Line, a Bit Late, Kerry Bows to Cold Numbers.
"The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio - and, very likely, the presidency - was in Republican hands. Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the 'boiler room' in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, 'we have 30 seconds' to stop the other networks from following suit. The campaign's pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted. 'What was driving our decision making was the memory of how in 2000, by allowing Florida to go for Bush, a lot of momentum was blocked,' said one person who was in the room. 'Our whole goal was stop the train from moving that way.' Train stopped, lawyers and strategists at the campaign's Washington headquarters prepared court papers to challenge Ohio's process for counting provisional ballots, and made spreadsheets comparing each county's provisional ballots with its margin of victory or defeat. Once Mr. Kerry woke up, he and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, asked myriad questions in a series of conference calls with the staff. Mr. Edwards, aides said, wanted to soldier on." But Kerry knew the gig was up. So the reason there were no calls after Fox and NBC was that Howard Wolfson -- well, Mark Mellman called all the networks and asked them not to. And as dutiful slaves to the Democratic party, CBS, CNN, ABC, MSNBC and whoever else did not make the call. MSNBC did not while NBC did. CNN, ABC, and CBS, and no other network by the way made any other calls. Fox and NBC called Florida, but that still didn't get Bush over 269.
Then later on in the evening, on CBS, about 5 o'clock in the morning, Lesley Stahl was all upset because she said, "This shouldn't happen this way. There shouldn't be anybody assuming Bush wins until we at the networks make the call, and then the candidates concede and accept." And even Rather, when she said that, even he looked like, "What are you talking about? You don't give this up. You don't tell people this is the way this operates." She was giving up all the trade secrets. The networks determine who wins by when they call what states for who. Rather couldn't believe what he was hearing. So he had to act like she was an idiot. So basically, that's why you all stayed up longer than you needed to is because the Kerry campaign had no intention of conceding, and without that, the networks weren't going to call it. Plus the networks were called by the Kerry campaign. The Kerry campaign told them not to call Ohio, and they dutifully said, "Okay, we won't call Ohio."
We'll take a brief break, ladies and gentlemen, and I am sorry I didn't have this for you yesterday. This is yesterday's newspaper. What's interesting, the New York Times reports this as, "So? Big deal?" This is huge. In any other news, this would be a huge story. Networks Accede to Demand from Kerry Campaign, should be the headline. But here it's just part and parcel of Kerry bowing to cold numbers, finish line a bit late, and they just report this as though it's common, ordinary, everyday occurrence with the Kerry campaign or any Democratic campaign and themselves. The real decision desk was at Kerry headquarters, there was no decision desk at -- well, the NBC and Fox decision desks ignored it. Fox went first. Fox didn't pay any attention. They made the call, and it was after they made the call that the Kerry boiler room went into panic. And then NBC made the call, but that still didn't put him over 270, or at 270. They kept him at 269. So, yeah, the decision desk for the networks was actually Howard Wolfson and Mark Mellman at the Kerry campaign.
END TRANSCRIPT
Yeah I heard that on Rush today. Everything Rush has said about the MSM is true.Theyve really showed their true colors this year.
I heard it sometime during the day today. I believe it was Wolfson who ordered the media NOT to call Ohio for President Bush. And except for Brokejaw, they obeyed.
Reading the thread I was flabbergasted to learn that so many Freepers really thought it mattered whether or not the the MSM "made the call." Simply amazing that they focused on the MSM instead of the actual vote counts.
my feeling was that once MSM made the call, it meant Kerry wasn't going to contest the vote counts.
**"The MSM deserves the death penalty. Out of business. Bye." **
And I think this needs to get to Fox Newswatch!
IMHO Rose...after the hell that FNC caught after calling Florida and the debacle that followed...they honestly didn't want a repeat. But their cautiousness this go around paralyzed them into inaction.
bttt
The DNC = ABCNNBCBS = DanTomPeterJim RatherBrokawJenningsLehrerNYTWAPOLATAPalJazeera = the UN = EU-like World Communists
>>>>>>Fark the Animal Farm Gang!<<<<<
I grew up on the farm, I think they should be PITCHfarked!
Once they called it for Bush ,Kerry was finished and they knew it.Howard Fineman nailed Ohio on Fox about how the counties were dem or repub strongholds.He did some good analysis.
Still thinks that the media selects the president, I see.
It was. Election night at a newspaper is a real event.
The people who were still aronud when I decided to pack it in at 4 AM are good folks and really good to work with. They weren't trying to show any particular bias. They'd be really ticked at anyone who accused them of it.
In this particular case, they were just afraid to make a decision that the "experts" (like Dan Rather) had not endorsed. I suspect a lot of what looks like bias happens in exactly that way.
True enough, and perhaps that's why CBS news trails all the other networks in ratings.
The sad fact is that about half of America does not have cable or satellite television. They get the networks with an antennae. Poor and remotely located populations are going to get network news or nothing. Capitalism hasn't yet brought the information age to everyone here.
I did miss this today, so thanks for posting it! Outrageous, and if the American public needed another reason to ignore the MSM, this is it. Talk about disenfranchisement and violation of civil rights! They should be sued out of existence. And jailed. Starting with Dan the Man.
No one should have control over a "free press", unless of course they are no longer free!
I hate to say this, because I used to like Fox Watch, but they ARE part of the media, and they will defend their compadres.
The make more excuses than critisizms, especially Jane and that little pipsqueek liberal. Cal Thomas tries to lend some objectiveness but he is usually shouted down.
Media is not going to really critique their own.
The media is an extension of the Democratic Party, and those who still believe the media as being fair and balanced, should read this article really carefully.
This brings up a number of questions, first Matthews is so obviously biased for the Democrats that he thinks anyone who votes for Bush must live in a foreign country. Has this fool (and I selected the word fool with due deliberation) ever looked into the facts about John Kerry? If he had he would realize that there are serious questions to be asked as to why this man is not sitting in a Federal prison for treason, beyond that there is absolutely nothing in his record to recommend him for the office of President (and I selected the words absolutely nothing with due deliberation also).
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