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.
I was on the live thread that nite until about 0130 Wed. Morning. I remember the disbelief that most people...including myself felt that the MSM almost did NOT want to call Florida for W. ANd they had to be severly arm twisted into finally doing it.
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.
"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."
I got into a couple of semi heated discussions with good freepers, that ABCNNBCBS don't declare winners and losers. That is done by each Sec of State office in each state.
This is just another example why we don't need FOX/ABCNNBCBS to determine who wins an election. We just need a couple of Freepers at each of the Sec State Offices or on line with each SOS office. I discussed this with Liz this week.
I wanted to Pres Bush to come out and declare victory and to _ with the networks!
What angered me was that the media was so obviously treading water, waiting to see what Kerry would do. You KNOW they wouldn't have hesitated a moment to call the election for Kerry if the situation had been reversed.
I wanted the media to show some guts and do the right thing. As usual, they let me down.
To echo what you said, it's "(s)imply amazing that they focused on the MSM instead of the actual vote counts.". Doubly so when you realize that, per the article, "(t)he critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday". The polls were all closed by then! The actual votes were already cast, even if they weren't counted yet. What other "momentum" were they trying to keep, except the momentum of self-delusion?
well, then why was Kerry's team so urgently trying to stop the call? those of us on the live thread wanted the call made, because we understood what it meant - the same way Kerry's team did, which is why they tried to stop it.
and the same problem occurred with NV,NM and IOWA.
"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."
Part of the Kerry strategery was to "shape public opinion" if they went to a legal challenge in several states. So, this becomes difficult if someone else "shapes public opinion" first, by declaring a Bush victory.
This is why what the media does is important.
Imagine if Gore in 2000 never conceded then unconceded (which is what he did). Imagine instead a PR campaign designed to fuel public doubt, then outrage- followed by strong swift court actions. If he could have gotten lots of John Q. Public sympathetic to his cause, he may have had more time for legal shenanigans and a friendlier environment in which to work, with less media pressure. As it was Bush immediately started acting like he won, and this cost Gore lots in terms of public tolerance for his legal strategy.
So that's why it is important. Read Edward Bernay's "Crystallizing Public Opinion" or his "Propaganda".
I disagree here. I was on that thread pretty much all day and up until about 130 AM PST. I believe we all knew that Bush had the votes to carry the states...Ohio, NM and Nevada in particular...they did not think that the MSM NEEDED to make the call..there was just anger, and justifiably so, that none of the networks sans Fox, then MSNBC would have the balls to call Ohio for Bush when it was obvious he would win it. We knew the networks did not WANT to make the call, and we knew WHY they did not make the call..and it pissed alot of people off.
I wasn't one of those posters, but I was looking forward to gloating at the office Wednesday.