Posted on 11/07/2004 11:45:49 PM PST by ambrose
Rove says early exit polls made him 'ill'
Associated Press
Last update: November 08, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Reflecting on how he delivered President Bush his second term, White House political adviser Karl Rove admitted Sunday that John Kerry's vote for, then against, funding in Iraq and Afghanistan was the "gift that kept on giving."
The deft strategy of Rove, whom Bush calls the architect of his re-election campaign, is credited with helping move the nation from the 49 percent to 49 percent stalemate of the 2000 election to a 51 percent to 48 percent split in the Republicans' favor.
"The country is still close, but it has moved in a Republican direction, and this election confirmed that," Rove said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Tactically, Kerry's decision to vote for the $87 billion in funding for troops and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then deciding in October 2003 to vote against it, was a bonanza for the president's campaign, "the gift that kept on giving," Rove said.
Bush's campaign featured the videotape in thousands of commercials around the country to paint Kerry as a flip-flopper. The label stuck to the Massachusetts senator despite reports about frequent changes in various Bush positions.
Rove played down the importance to the campaign of "moral values," which exit polls last Tuesday unexpectedly identified as a major consideration of many voters, especially those who voted for Bush.
Rove said 34 percent of the voters were motivated by issues surrounding Iraq and the war on terror, compared with 30 percent motivated by moral values. "What essentially happened in this election was that people became concerned about three issues: first the war, then the economy, jobs and taxes and then moral values. And then everything else dropped off of the plate," he said.
Rove said he felt sick, then got mad when he started reading exit polls on Election Day as Air Force One returned from a final campaign swing. Surveys of voters just leaving polling places around the nation tilted toward Kerry early in the day and through much of the evening, causing early optimism for a Democratic recovery of the White House.
That faded through the night as exit polls were adjusted to reflect official vote tallies. But the exit poll was still tracking toward Kerry as the president's plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland after Bush's quick Election Day stop to thank supporters in crucial Ohio.
"I was on Air Force One, and we were literally on final approach into Andrews," Rove said on "Fox News Sunday." "The phone connection kept cutting out. I was holding a piece of paper on my knee, trying to scribble it down, holding the phone in the other hand. I got sick as I wrote them down, and then when I looked at them, I got angry, because they simply could not be true."
"I mean, it had us 19 points down in Pennsylvania. It had us 17 points down in New Hampshire. It had us 1 point up in Virginia," Rove said. "I mean, you looked at these numbers, and you realize, this is just insane."
On one sideline row during the campaign, Rove said the president's tailor was devastated about a controversy over a box-shaped bulge in Bush's back that television cameras captured during the first debate. The mysterious bulge spawned speculation that Bush aides were feeding the president advice secretly through a radio receiver tucked under his suit jacket.
"Nothing was under his jacket," Rove said.
"The poor tailor ... he's an awfully nice fellow, he's a rather flamboyant dude," Rove said. "I'm not going to use his name, but he's just -- he's horrified. And, you know, it's -- there was nothing there."
Almost.
Rove said 34 percent of the voters were motivated by issues surrounding Iraq and the war on terror, compared with 30 percent motivated by moral values. "What essentially happened in this election was that people became concerned about three issues: first the war, then the economy, jobs and taxes and then moral values. And then everything else dropped off of the plate," he said.
They made me ill, too, that early evening. A little after midnight, I started feeling much better, and then ecstatic. I'm still quite, oh, I don't know, Jovial. How sweet it was (and is)!
I didn't feel sorry for the opposition in the least. I'm sure when those early exit polls came out, they didn't feel sorry for us.
Those exit polls made me ill, too. And someone should be held to account for the fraud they represent. I think sedition charges are appropriate.
The exit polls didn't make sense to my beaux and I too... we were watching DOWN for us in Virginia, and the 19 points down in Pennsylvania... it just didn't make sense!
Cant he sue for that? I mean if he really felt ill. People are sueing for less. Maybe Breck Girl can take his case.
Shoot I felt ill too. Anyone else smell Class Action? Class? Yes the Republican Class!
I was the first to point to the tailor :-)
The thing that got me was that the MSM kept reporting these false polls hours after voting was finished in the east. Virginia leading Kerry, North Carolina too close to call. Since when is 12% too close to call? They wouldn't even call Mississippi and Alabama right away. Looked like a deliberate attempt to supresss GOP voting in the Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico). Grrr!
Well, so I wasn't the only one. After Drudge posted those phoney exit polls on his website, and then KJL at The Corner confirmed them, I walked in and told my boss that I thought I was going to throw up and I might need to go home and lie down.
I checked into FR around 3:30Am-4:00AM and learned about the Ohio situation. By the time I read the last 600 posts, I was feeling as good as I could, and went to work in smiles (and a temp of 102...) Anyway, the whole world is better now, and the media is still in disgrace. : )
I felt somewhat the same way Tuesday afternoon as I drove home from work. I
checked into FR, got something to eat and said, "The heck with it!" and caught
some shuteye from around 7:30 to around 1:30am. All was much better by then.
By the time I came back in Drudge had more info such as the over sampling of women. We encouraged one another here not to panic as more information came in.
I was still deeply disturbed until West Virginia was called for Bush. From then on I was confident we were in good shape and those exit polls were bogus. Ohio never deeply concerned me.
The only thing late into the evening that made me irritated was the MSM's conspiring with the Kerry campaign to deprive Bush's voters AGAIN of an election night triumph. NBC & Fox called Ohio but refused to call Nevada, the others called Nevada and refused to call Ohio all to avoid announcing the obvious! In the end they gave up any pretense of being an impartial and free press.
When Senator Silky Pony came out and made his proclamation, I was immediately ready for a fight. Ohio was undeniably a Bush win and I was ready to dust off my Election 2000 Freeper PJ's, stockpile rations and go into Freeping battle. I'm more than pleased it wasn't necessary.
Those exit polls made me eat all my children's Halloween candy by 10PM.
Talk about sick...
It wasn't false and "fed" to Drudge. It was the same data the campaigns were seeing, including Rove. It was erroneous because the turn out model was terribly wrong.
I give credit to Drudge for reminding people the 2000 early exit polling was wrong as well and later adding details like them having an oversampling of women in the early numbers. The truth is he has allowed us to peek behind the proverbial curtain to see what the MSM and campaigns see which shapes the election night coverage.
I went through all the mini Crunch bars we had left from Halloween and had a Dr. Pepper IV going. At one point, in the early afternoon I brashly declared I was not going to eat dinner because my stomach was in such a tight knot. I was calmed down about an hour later.
Still, I'm sure we could all agree, we'd take this false alert over another 2000.
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