If Republicans defy the polls and pundits ...A 'pre-nalysis' of a better-than-expected showing

MSNBC ^ | November 6, 2006 | Howard Fineman

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NEW YORK - If Democrats do as well or better than expected on Election Day, the reasons will be clear: the botched war in Iraq, the second-term president’s resulting unpopularity, corruption in a Republican-led Congress. But if Republicans manages to defy the polls and pundits, the rush will be on to explain why — beyond the obvious reason that Republicans still are richer and better organized.

So why not explain in advance? In the amped-up world of politics, there already are “pre-buttals” “and “pre-crimations.” Here is my “pre-nalysis” of a GOP “BTE” showing:

TIMING: The Democrats would have been better off if Election Day had been a week ago. Their gaudy lead in the polls, and the consequent talk of a rising a Democratic tide finally grabbed the attention of the distracted and divided GOP conservative base. Once the idea of “Speaker Pelosi” seemed a genuine reality, the Devil talk had bite in the phone banks. The sometimes leering TV coverage of the Rev. Ted Haggard's travails reinforced that view among the faithful.

BIG BAD MEDIA: In the latest NEWSWEEK poll, evangelical Christians put the “mainstream media” at the top of the list of pernicious influences, right up there with Hollywood. The MSM’s conventional wisdom became a goad for Republican stalwarts: a chance to prove once again that Big Media doesn’t understand “real” America and its outlook.

SCRAPS OF GOOD NEWS:

[Tallguy]

One presumes that if Howard Fineman were covering WW2 he would have descibed that war as 'Botched' based upon the events on Omaha Beach or Iwo Jima. Cheeze these guys insist on looking at the War with a microscope. No war will stand up to that kind of examination. There are always screwups, time 'you got lucky', etc. Nature of the beast.

[Mamzelle]

re: .The controversy it generated actually was the first time many voters in East Tennessee learned that Ford was an African-American ")))

LOL! Puts me in mind of when I found out Helle Berry was "African American"--!! Might pale shades of black.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

The look on his, Chris Mathews, Timmy Russert's among others faces will be priceless if the GOP defy's the odds.

Not if but when!

[Gordongekko909]

Ahh, the Democrat plantation. And you know what Hillary's talking about.

[beckysueb]

The media now is running hard with the voting machine glitch story. They are making a total mess out of this election. They started reporting about voter machine glitches as soon as the polls started showing the Republicans closing the gap.

[Let's Roll]

Predict GOP with a net of 8 in the House and a net of 2 in the Senate.

[umgud]

Here's a comment I found over at DU. They're appoplectic at the thought of tightening polls. They think the pubbies are gonna steal another election.

32. I believe that the Pew poll is managed by a Freeper.

A Freeper who has been posting on Freerepublic since the '90s.

[My2Cents]

Oh year, those are trivial, Fineman!

I detest this guy with a white-hot fury, he and his on-air lover, Chris Matthews.

[kerryusama04]

Republicans "defying" polls is quite the Freudian slip, IMO.

[pabianice]

Astonishingly snot-nosed and stupid. Republicans may win because they are dumb racist criminals, just like half of the country's citizens. Fineman is truly a moron's elite moron.

[My2Cents]

As the swamps of Georgia go, so goes the US, I hope.

[weegee]

The talking points in the first 7 minutes of the 2004 election returns were "well just like his father, George W. Bush is learning that 'it's the economy' that cost him the election".

The media believed their own phony numbers. The same media that fabricated National Guard memos fabricates poll numbers to supress the vote. Stand up and be counted.

We need to call on the FCC to hold the lying liars in the mass media accountable. What they do is an attempt to sway the election with manufactured lies. They know they oversample Dems.

[alloysteel]

This is just a big campaign of 'CYA' so any gains the Dem'crats DO make, will be scored as a "better than expected" (which would be a complete skunk), and therefore a win. Even if they do not take a majority in either the House or Senate.

"We didn't slip an inch!"

That still doesn't make a mandate.

[meg88]

answer for Howie: John Forbes Carry

[My2Cents]

I believe that the Pew poll is managed by a Freeper.

ROFL!!! OMG, that's the funniest thing I've read in weeks.

[weegee]

There are probably more hackers who vote Democrat or Green Party than vote Republican or Libertarian combined.

[LeonardFMason]

Howard Fineman.......YYYYYAAAAAAWWWWWNNN.....works for NEWSWEAK. Who cares what he says, thinks, or does?

[kerryusama04]

The "Harold Call Me" thing illustrates that Republicans aren't racist because it never dawned on us that any man wouldn't be attracted to any woman regardless of skin color.

[backhoe]

One other snippet-- I'm optimistic about the election- I was so even last week, but Kerry's Swiftboating of himself, and by extension the Democrats helped our side enormously.

The NYT's Iraqi Nuke story is more damaging to the "Boosh Lied!" moonbats than they will ever believe. Life and death are serious business- do we really want to trust our lives to that bunch of clowns?

I have not seen one ( count 'em, 1 ) new Democrat bumper sticker in my county. But I see lots of Republican stickers. And yard signs- plenty of "R's" but not a single "D."

[My2Cents]

We need to call on the FCC to hold the lying liars in the mass media accountable.

I'm willing to join that campaign first thing Wednesday morning.