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."
Thank goodness that on Tuesdays I teach 2 three hour classes back to back, so I didn't even get to check the voting results until after 8pm on the east coast.
By then, things were looking good for Bush. Otherwise, I would have been sick too!!!!
When the first numbers came in around 2pm, I felt like I had been punched in the gut, even though mentally I knew they were wrong.... shortly there after the sampling errors were revealed 60% women? Come on!
I will admit for a brief instant my faith was shaken, but it did not last but 5 minutes. After the sampling issue was exposed, I was more confident than ever (and I was damned confident from the get go) that Bush had this thing lock stock and barrel.
LOL!
THANK YOU. I have been wondering this myself but did not want to start a vanity thread about it. To restate your question: Why are the exit polls being taken as factual when reporting WHY people voted the way they did when the polls were so wrong in reporting WHO people voted for?
Granted, at the time I took the exit polling at face value, as the evening progressed it was obvious the early exit polling was a complete sham ... no doubt aided and abetted by the MSM including (perhaps unwittingly)Drudge. Dick Morris who is the guru of exit polling data is calling for an impartial investigation as he feels the early was so off the mark as to be contrived in order to give voter momentum to Kerry.
The only exit poll question that registers correct with me is "who do you trust more with security?"
I think it was 72 BUSH..TERRORISM won this elecion IMHO.
I truly believe the media is making up this big moral victory to make us look like religious zeolots.
I was amazed that folks were just accepting what the MSM was telling them, and that INCLUDES Drudge!! It seemed that he was accepting the figures and passing them along without editorial comment early on. I wasn't watching TV early in the day, and only realized what was happening when I checked with FR around mid-day. I didn't believe the exit polls, so I turned on Rush, and he was talking about just how BOGUS the numbers were. I knew that the President's team had the numbers they needed because of the confidence they were exuding in the days leading up to the vote.
Jay Severin, on talk radio here in the Boston area, made the mistake of taking what the MSM said as gospel the last few weeks before the election. He was a REAL downer and predicted a Kerry win. I just stopped listening to him because I was seeing the state polls, and what he was saying bore no relation to them. His biggest fear was vote fraud, but I didn't think it would be as big a problem as it might have been in 2000 because the Repubs. were ready for it.
**"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."**
I think we all shared Rove's feelings. First -- astonishment
Second -- anger
Third -- suspicion of dim planted poll takers (at least this was true for me.) Anyone else?
my bet is we will see some kind of kitty dulakis move by her soon
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