Posted on 11/07/2004 3:29:48 AM PST by GoldwaterBooster
Do you remember how fast the TV networks called Florida for Al Gore in 2000? BEFORE 8 PM Eastern Time? BEFORE the polls closed in the Florida panhandle located in the central time zone? Gore lost the state by 500 votes.
Now fast forward to 2004. Its 3 and one-half hours after the polls close in the panhandle and four and one-half hours after the polls close in the rest of the state and the networks are still saying Florida is "too close to call."
Funny, Bush wound up winning Florida by FIVE FULL PERCENTAGE POINTS over Kerry with a margin of 381,147 votes in favor of Bush. But I guess with all those computers it sure was "too close to call" --- at least when it might be good news for the GOP. But thanks anyway Peter, Tom, and Dan, we sure are grateful for your prudent caution this year in not rushing to call (red) states too early.
Oh, by the way guys, is it OK now for us to color South Carolina and Virginia red? You also said they were "too close to call" for a suspiciously long time after the polls closed in both states. But, by golly, Illinois was easy to call for Kerry just minutes after the polls closed. Blue states never seem to be "too close to call" do they?
The left-stream media no longer tries to hide it's bias.
Yeah, even Fox was, ah, cautious.
Britt Hume joked that Fox was "bravely" calling the Kentucky senate race for Jim Bunning(?)- when they got 100% of the vote counted.
BTW, did they ever call Iowa? How'd that come out?
It's repulsive. They are so obviously at the beck and call of the Democrats it's not even funny. And then the Democrats cynically tell us that the media is really conservatively biased. Even Fox News refused to call Nevada, because it put the President over the top. I think they regretted breaking ranks and calling Ohio, so they were limiting the "damage."
Iowa was called for Bush. I think that was done on Thursday, if you can believe it.
Iowa carried for Bush by about 12,000 votes.
You're right. Fox was totally cowardly.
Did you see the thread yesterday on Rush's show where he exposed the tidbit in the NYTimes in which they stated that the Kerry campaign called all the networks and told them not to call Ohio, and thus the election, for Pres. Bush at midnight? So naturally, the lackeys all fell into line until finally, much later, Fox finally declared Ohio and an hour later, so did NBC. But the rest slavishly did as told by the Democrats, thus proving they can never be trusted again with election coverage. This election season proved beyond doubt the overt bias of the MSM.
The exit polls told the media/netwroks/cable
that Kerry was going to win.
Kerry thought he was going to win.
He was writing his victory speech with Bob Shrum.
Media was hesitant to call the states for Bush,
because they believed the exit polls despite the
actual tallying of the votes for Bush.
It's hilarious.
There they sat, just waiting for Kerry's surge which never materialized.
Can't blame them really. You never know where or when a few hundred thousand votes from the dead might turn up from. And it's hard to get the dead to do exit poll interviews. :o)
That was pathetic. I was seething. NOTHING can show how evilly biased the networks are than this crap!
You got me pissed again, and it's supposed to be just a gentle Sunday morning. Darn.
;-)
Did you see the thread yesterday on Rush's show where he exposed the tidbit in the NYTimes in which they stated that the Kerry campaign called all the networks and told them not to call Ohio, and thus the election, for Pres. Bush at midnight? So naturally, the lackeys all fell into line until finally, much later, Fox finally declared Ohio and an hour later, so did NBC.
Not quite right...After Fox called Ohio for Bush, the KerryKampaign hit the phones & called ABC, CNN, CBS, & NBC urging them not to call Ohio for Bush. NBC was the only other network to call Ohio for Bush that evening.
From the Rush article, quoting the NYTimes: ''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. ''
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1272308/posts
Unbelievable. Can you imagine what the story would have been if the Bush campaign had called networks trying to influence when they call states on Election Night? There would have been impeachment resolutions from Nancy Pelosi and editorials of condemnation all over America.
Don't know. All I remember is that Andrew Card said a few words and Dan Rather's CBS went off the air. Until then, Danny Boy was stickin' to his guns. Huh.
Somebody said that Dan had a cow about Card's statement before CBS election coverage went off the air (I missed that as I was a postin').
Frankly, I thought it was kind of odd. I was editing a post and then Andy came on, and then I ran back to the PC, and after clicking the "send" button, Danny Boy was GONE! Huh. I guess he and Jennings had a grope goup with Brokaw, eh? Tommy broke ranks and he needed some slappin' around was my take on all that.
Rather didn't win that bitch, unless he and Couric don't get along too well. Matthews, Brokaw and Bradley seemed pretty chummy sitting around Couric though.
Brokaw called Ohio years ahead of everybody else. But the one thing I couldn't figger: He called Hawaii "red" and had it painted "red" on his map. Huh.
MSM got their marching orders from Howard Wolfson.
Even Fox News refused to call Nevada, because it put the President over the top.
Nevada is experiencing a tremendous growth in population. Who was to know how these new people were going to vote, especially when you consider that a lot of the new Nevadians are ex-Californians? It was a case of where the old rules might not apply to the new Nevada--caution advised. Same story in parts of New Mexico. And in both states you have to consider how few people actually live in these states, so even small changes can make a huge difference in the final outcome.
Why did Bush win supposedly "too close to call" Florida by 5% this year? Last time the difference was tiny, and the polls though that this year would be razor thin also. Furthermore, all of those northeasterners who moved to Florida were supposed to increase the Dem vote.
A possible explanation: This year, the panhandle vote was not suppressed by an early call for the Dem. That artificial reduction in turnout four years ago may have upset all of the predictions. It would be interesting to see if the figures support this theory. If so, it was Gore who benefited greatly by voter confusion in 2000 rather than Bush.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.