Posted on 11/09/2004 6:34:36 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
ABC struck back Thursday night at the notion that exit polls, which found that "moral values" led all other topics as the most important issue to voters, meant support for conservative positions on social issues, as if liberal anti-war activists were equally likely to have picked "moral values" as their top issue. With "Moral Values" in quote marks over a red/blue state U.S. map, Peter Jennings treated the concept as alien as he described how "ever since the polls closed on election night, there's been a lot of buzz in the political establishment, in the country at large, about this question of quote, 'moral values.'" He complained that "the question did not ask what moral values did you have in mind?" and so he chafed that "some people now interpret this as a mandate for conservative religious values."
John Cochran proceeded to highlight how "conservative activists argued their moral values were the important ones in this election" with their positions on "conservative hot button issues" such as abortion and same-sex marriage. But he gave equal weight to how "in blue states, such as California, voters were more likely to feel it was immoral to deny marriage to gays and lesbians. And their definition of moral values often included opposition to the war in Iraq." ABC featured a man who declared: "If you've got a President who just says, you know, my daddy didn't finish the job, so I'm going to go inflict war and I'm a warmonger, you know, that's a moral issue. It's wrong. Truth is, it's wrong to kill."
Cochran relayed that since they are "worried about the split in America, some evangelicals are now working to expand the definition of moral values." Viewers next heard from Jim Wallis, but though Cochran had tagged Tony Perkins of the Family Research Center as a "conservative activist," he refrained from labeling Wallis, the Editor of a left-wing magazine, as a liberal.
In the morning, Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer expressed astonishment over "one of the big surprises" of the campaign which "still has everyone talking. Voters saying that their top issue in choosing a candidate, not the economy, not terrorism, not Iraq, but moral values." Sawyer at least painted liberal Democrats as the ones out of touch, telling Paul Begala how "a woman in the newspaper this morning said something which really intrigued me. She said here's the thing about the Democrats and why she voted this way. She said, 'I've been made to feel by liberal people that my faith just makes me weird' and at the end of the day she didn't like that. Did the Democrats miss something big here?"
But Sawyer also raised how Kerry backers claimed that "moral values" is "code for something else. It's code for taking a different position about gays in America, an exclusionary position, a code about abortion, code about imposing Christianity over other faiths."
Jennings set up the November 4 World News Tonight segment:
"Ever since the polls closed on election night, there's been a lot of buzz in the political establishment, in the country at large, about this question of quote, 'moral values.' It begins, really, with a question in Tuesday's exit poll of voters. When asked what issue mattered most in deciding whom to vote for, 22 percent said 'moral values.' [on screen, bar graph with 22 percent for moral values, 20 percent for economy and 19 percent for terrorism]. That was more than for any other issue the pollsters raised. But the question did not ask what moral values did you have in mind? And some people now interpret this as a mandate for conservative religious values. So today we asked ABC's John Cochran to take 'A Closer Look.'"
Cochran began with some very broad interpretations of the term: "We asked people around the country how they define moral values."
Unidentified woman #1: "Moral values would be, like, right and wrong, what your parents instilled in you."
Cochran: "Listening to some of these people, you wonder how moral values could have become so divisive during the campaign."
Unidentified woman #2: "Treating people right and with respect, respect for ourselves, respect for others and respect for God."
Unidentified man #1: "I think moral values says that somewhere there has to be a line in society that you draw that says that this is, this is behavior or circumstances that you don't want to encourage as a policy matter."
Cochran: "But during the campaign, the so-called moral values divided many voters."
Unidentified preacher on stage: "We are going to vote our values."
Cochran: "Conservative activists argued their moral values were the important ones in this election [on screen header: "Moral Values" with "Conservative Hot Button Issues" as the subhead as each item Cochran enunciated was listed on screen]. The pledge of allegiance in schools, acknowledgment of God on public monuments, the sanctity of life for the hopelessly ill and opposition to abortion. But this year, it was the gay marriage issue that was so powerful that amendments against it were passed in all 11 states where it was on the ballot."
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council: "If you look at Pennsylvania and Ohio, they have very similar demographics. Pennsylvania went to Kerry. Ohio went to President Bush. The difference being the turnout that was fueled by the marriage issue being on the ballot."
Cochran: "In blue states, such as California, voters were more likely to feel it was immoral to deny marriage to gays and lesbians. And their definition of moral values often included opposition to the war in Iraq."
Unidentified man #3: "If you've got a President who just says, you know, my daddy didn't finish the job, so I'm going to go inflict war and I'm a warmonger, you know, that's a moral issue. It's wrong. Truth is, it's wrong to kill."
Cochran: "Worried about the split in America, some evangelicals are now working to expand the definition of moral values."
Jim Wallis, identified on screen as an "evangelical pastor": "How do you bring people together? Where is the common ground? I do think that overcoming poverty may be a new common ground on which many people can stand."
Cochran concluded: "Americans overwhelmingly agree this is a moral nation. The debate at the moment is over who owns morality. John Cochran, ABC News, Washington."
Cochran failed to identify Wallis as a liberal, but he is Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners, a liberal protestant magazine. The first paragraph of the magazine's bio on him:
"Jim Wallis is a Christian leader for social change. He is a speaker, author, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. Wallis was a founder of Sojourners -- Christians for justice and peace -- more than 30 years ago and continues to serve as the editor of Sojourners magazine, covering faith, politics and culture. In 1995, Wallis was instrumental in forming Call to Renewal, a national federation of churches, denominations, and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty."
Earlier Thursday, on Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer announced: "The campaign is over, but one of the big surprises still has everyone talking. Voters saying that their top issue in choosing a candidate, not the economy, not terrorism, not Iraq, but moral values. So we went out and asked the voters exactly what the word, phrase 'moral values' means to them."
Harriett Eskew, Bush voter: "I know that he is seeking to live out, in his daily life, biblical values."
Christine Michalec, Kerry voter: "We're a country founded on diversity and we have so many different, you know, religions that it might be better for him just to keep it vague, as far as that."
Maurisha Cartwright, Kerry voter: "Obviously morals are an issue, a big issue. Religion not so much."
Sawyer introduced her two guests, Paul Begala and Joe Watkins: "Many different things. A question raised in one headline, 'are we two nations under God this morning?'...I'm going to start with you, Paul, because a woman in the newspaper this morning said something which really intrigued me. She said here's the thing about the Democrats and why she voted this way. She said, 'I've been made to feel by liberal people that my faith just makes me weird' and at the end of the day she didn't like that. Did the Democrats miss something big here?"
Begala conceded: "I think they did, Diane. I think that my party often suffers from cultural elitism. Every -- not every, well, yeah -- every liberal wants to believe that he's intellectually superior, every conservative wants to believe that he's morally superior, and they each look down their nose at the other...."
Bush campaign adviser Joe Watkins asserted: "I'm a person of faith. In addition to my business life and my political life, I'm also a minister -- I pastor a church -- and I clearly don't feel morally superior to anybody. I mean, what my faith has taught me is that I'm forgiven, and so I don't have the right to feel superior to anybody morally."
Sawyer, the MRC's Jessica Anderson noticed, countered: "Yes, but let me ask you something, because there's a definite sense this morning on the part of the Kerry voters that perhaps this is code, 'moral values' is code for something else. It's code for taking a different position about gays in America, an exclusionary position, a code about abortion, code about imposing Christianity over other faiths."
Watkins: "I don't think so. I think that the truth of the matter is, Diane, that faith really does matter to a lot of people in America and they aren't carrying signs necessarily, they're not standing on the street corner somewhere."
The November 4 CyberAlert documented the initial media surprise at the role of moral values: Out of touch media. Many in the media admitted their "surprise" at how the exit poll discovered that, at 22 percent, more called "moral values" the "most important issue" than any other in determining their vote. On Wednesday's Good Morning America, ABC's Diane Sawyer asserted that the exit poll had "some surprises" and Robin Roberts began with the "moral values" answer. Over on CBS's Early Show, Julie Chen asked: "What was the surprise of the day?" John Roberts replied that the "moral values" finding was "the real surprise of the day." Dan Rather teased the CBS Evening News, "Moral values. We'll give you a look at the surprise issue that trumped the war, terror and the economy..." ABC's Peter Jennings insisted that "this question of moral values is a surprising one to show up on exit polls" and George Stephanopoulos described it as "an amazing result." Just before John Kerry's concession speech, ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin acknowledged how many journalists "are out of touch with a lot of America and with a lot of America that supports George W. Bush."
This reminds me of the old saying: "If you call a dogs tail a leg, how many legs does it have?"
The "old" liberal MSM will go down fighting. But their influence has become minimal, which must really grate at them as they continue their state of denial.
The American people have spoken. Evidently, Jennings and the rest of them at ABC aren't listening.
I am SO proud of all of them for going down the THIS road in their ANALysis. Heh heh.
The MSM could not be happier to spend their time on the "moral values" thing. First off, how did moral values get to be an answer on the exit polling survey when it was not even discussed as a front line issue during the election. Secondly, who labelled this issue as "moral values" on the survey?
The entire "moral values" red herring was created by the MSM for two purposes. First off, the MSM realized Kerry and the Dems were losing on all fronts, not just "moral values." To admit as much is to admit that a far more serious problem exists for the Dems than they are willing to admit. But with "moral values" as the reason d'etre for the Bush victory, the Dems and MSM can either directly or subtley proclaim that the voters are with the Dems on the issues, but Bush won because of moral values (read gay bashing).
But, but, how could this be....Kerry was an altar boy........
They'll never get it.
I've yet to hear a one of 'em mention "personal responsibility" as one of the "values" Red Staters voted on last week.
So much of our motivation can be summarized in that phrase.
This is in that two times and is just an outright lie. Cali voted for Prop 10, denying homos marriage, by like 70% IIRC.
If the Democratic Party wants to re-connect with the masses, they have to distance themselves from Hollywood. Inviting Michael Moore to the convention may have been the tipping point.
They will simply never get it. The elephant in every one of these conversations is the Bible. Moral values come from the Judeo-Christian Biblical principles. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.
The truth is not so much that the Republicans are the Party of Morality. What the American people know - even if the commie-pinko media does not - is that the Democrats are the Party of IMMORALITY and that's why they lose thousands upon thousands of votes.
I'm one of those people who, while I haven't been to a church service for 35 years, is not gonna stand by and watch these people force their non-belief on everyone.
They've taken God out of our schools, and replaced Him with "Heather Has Two Mommies"
They've tried to take any reference to God out of our Judiciary and replaced him with activists bent on creating law from the bench.
They adore the ACLU who defends the North American Man-Boy Love Association, but have set their sights on destroying the Boy Scouts.
These are just a few of MY "values"
What do you expect from someone whose old girfriend is a spokeswoman for the PLO.
Must be another Halperin memo out there!
Can anyone get their hands on it?
Basic fairness says that if you call a conservative a conservative, then you call a liberal a liberal.
But fairness and the mainstream media never even met.
Big PING, Flip. You nailed it. Make 'moral values' the scapegoat.
LOL! They just can't help themselves.
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.