Posted on 10/24/2006 5:22:41 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
October 24, 2006 - 08:06
With rare exception, TV stories just don't happen - they're planned. So we can be quite sure that sometime in the last 24 hours or so, a producer at 'Today' sent out the word: "find me a Republican voter in a key state who has decided to vote Democrat this year."
NBC folks on the ground in Ohio obliged, dutifully disinterring Mr. John Gaylord to be trotted out on this morning's show. NBC's David Gregory offered this silk-purse-into-sow's-ear intro:
"For embattled Republicans, despite falling gas prices around the country, the economy might prove a tough sell. An important bellwether for this election is right here in Ohio, where a combination of an unpopular war in Iraq, a slow state economy, and scandal have set off alarm bells for Republicans. John Gaylord, a lifelong Republican, runs a bookstore in suburban Columbus. He may switch his vote this year."
Gaylord: "We've had a Republican congress for some time, and of course a Republican in the White House, and I just don't see us going in the right direction."
From Gaylord's statement, Gregory miraculously managed to divine a national trend : "For Republicans, analysts say, the malaise [hey, isn't that a copyrighted Dem term?] is national."
Quick switch to political analyst Stuart Rothenberg: "It is a mood where the public is sour, dissatisfied, wants to a change direction in the country. and just plain angry and ready to start over."
Of course, had that 'Today' producer so ordered, the staff could surely have found a Democrat who had decided to vote Republican. People can argue over the reliability of polls sampling 300 voters. The comment of a single hand-picked individual is less than meaningless - it's misleading.
The Army recently abandoned its advertising slogan "An Army of One." When it comes to forecasting trends, the MSM should likewise give up "a sample of one."
Today Show/NewsBusters sample-of-one ping.
Oops, the story just got really stinky now.
Not to say that owning a bookstore makes one a liberal per se, but I doubt this guy was ever Conservative.
They are trying soooo hard. How pleasant it will be to hand not just the dems a defeat next month, but the DBM as well. No matter how unhappy a Republican may be with this, that or the other thing, the dem party has made itself an unacceptable alternative.
The media is pushing hard. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
The same thought crossed my mind, but I didn't mention it since I couldn't prove it. Then again, on what basis did NBC report that Gaylord is a lifelong Republican? Did they do independent research or simply take his word for it?
I wonder how many other times Mr. Gaylord has been trotted out?
I seem to remember a report during the 2000 election of seminar voters.
This is the last desperate gasp of the liberal media leviathon.
How would they disprove it? He might just be one of those people who wanted his fifteen minutes of fame on the air.
I have the exact same thought.
RNC and NRCC ought to run ads saying "disappoint the biased media. Re-elect your Republican Congress!" I'll bet it would motivate plenty of conservatives to vote.
Gee, they told me the bellwether for this year was that election in San Diego. Won by a republican!
Last? I wish.
Whenever I see the words "lifelong Republican", I smell a Rat.
San Diego was only a bellwether if the Dem won ;-)
IBCDRPTHMIADO (In before campaign donation records prove this man is a Democrat Operative)
LOL!! (Love Outing Liberals!!)
Do we even know that Gaylord is Gaylord?
Of course the media is working hard for the Democrats. They are in financial free fall. The only thing they can hope for is the fairness doctrine...
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