Posted on 11/04/2004 12:50:49 PM PST by Cableguy
[only intersting parts are this]
The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio - and, very likely, the presidency - was in Republican hands.
Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the "boiler room" in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, "we have 30 seconds" to stop the other networks from following suit.
The campaign's pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted.
"What was driving our decision making was the memory of how in 2000, by allowing Florida to go for Bush, a lot of momentum was blocked," said one person who was in the room. "Our whole goal was stop the train from moving that way."
Train stopped, lawyers and strategists at the campaign's Washington headquarters prepared court papers to challenge Ohio's process for counting provisional ballots, and made spreadsheets comparing each county's provisional ballots with its margin of victory or defeat.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Disgraceful.
MSM - the media wing of the Democratic Party!
They were pimping!.......
More of the same from the part of "progressives"!
I really can't tell you all the things I'd like to do to Howard Wolfson.......... Every time I see his face, I conjure up thoughts that would certainly incarcerate me if they were anything but thoughts.
Kudos to NBC in this case though. Even though they downplayed it later, they did go ahead and call OH as they should have.
no matter how you read it, Bush wins and they lose!
Kudos to NBC. The rest can add this to their sorry resumes.
What a bunch of sickos.
I guess this is because at 12:41 am on Wednesday morning there were so many people who had yet to get in their cars and go to the polls? Is that the "momentum" that would have been stopped?
I think even the polls in Hawaii were closed at that point.
The NY Times didn't call Ohio for Kerry until yesterday evening, about 6:30pm eastern time. The Kerry campaign should give them some kind of award for being such loyal troopers!
I love it when a plan comes apart.
Really, I don't think anyone including FNC matches NBC for detail minded, comprehensive reporting.
The Dems can order the media to do anything. How does anyone even watch them?
This doesn't surprise me. I felt this was true when I heard the MSM monday morning. They obviously didn't want to call Ohio to Bush until Kerry had decided he had lost...I hope they don't think that they still look like "journalists.":-)
Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the "boiler room" in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, "we have 30 seconds" to stop the other networks from following suit.
Meaning the representatives of CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN who were garrisoned there needed to get out their cell phones immediately. Unfortunately, the NBC rep was in the men's room.
Really, I don't think anyone including FNC matches NBC for detail minded, comprehensive reporting.
ROFLMAO
According to at least three sources, one inside the Kerry campaign, and two outside of it, but with ties to senior Kerry advisers, some of the "early polling numbers" were in fact direct reports from Kerry campaign or Democratic Party operatives on the ground in such critical states as Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. According to a Washington lobbyist with knowledge of the numbers, the numbers were packaged together so as to appear to be exit poll results. They were then scrubbed through several sources to land in the lap of sympathetic bloggers who these operatives believed would put the numbers up with little question.
Some of the numbers claimed to be exit polling data that showed Kerry with a 8-1 voter ratio. As soon as the numbers hit the Internet, panic set in.
"It was awful," says a Republican House staffer. "You just felt sick when you saw the numbers."
But FNC does have Michael Barone, who is worth three or four of any other network analyst.
It's gonna be harder and harder for them to control the Media. People want and NEED real news. I hope we can get people to react to what they are seeing in the MSM.
Gad, I use to think what the Russians were doing with their media was bad, but these guys are worse, because they do the distortions and lying freely and willingly!
That's the inspiration for my new tagline.
We've got to give NBC credit for making the right choice and calling Ohio for Bush early on, along with Fox News. The other networks were disgraceful, especially CNN.
I agree. NBC, by far, had the best coverage on election night, including Chris Matthews and Tom Brokow, even though it pains me to say it!
Really. When there's a hot story, MS-NBC usually covers the details more thoroughly, more quickly than any news network. Aside from Ollie North, they had the best embed's for instance. Bob Arnot was unsurpassed.
so the networks belittle BC04 for pressing them to call Nevada, when they wouldn't, but tow the line for Kerry campaign in holding off on Ohio so they can deny the Bush campaign their due celebration.
I was thrilled when Tom Brokaw gave OH to Bush-Cheney and said "this race is essentially over." Must have pained him to admit that.
remember - they fired Bob Arnot for his work.
Lisa Myers was a star, too for NBC. (Nobody beat Barone, though.)
FOX and NBC may have called Ohio, but they then refrained from calling Nevada, New Mexico or Iowa so they would not have to put any number over 269 on the screen. Even after CBS, ABC and CNN called Nevada and New Mexico, FOX and NBC did not. They did not call those states until the next day, even after the number of votes outstanding was well less than the spread between the candidates.
They were just as bad as CBS, ABC and CNN, just in a different way.
Right. As for "fair and balanced" NBC is out the window.
Well, we have ourselves a case of fraud here, if that is the case. Dickie Morris's instincts appear to be correct.
Maybe NBC is trying to maintain some credibility in journalism.
I dont understand how they thought they could help hanoi john in that way, I mean by that time, the votes had been cast.
I felt that all along. I knew once they called Florida and then Ohio for Bush...It was over. And they were so slow calling Ohio that I became worried that they would ask for recounts...That's why I couldn't get any sleep till Ohio was called.,..
I question someone's memory (or perception of reality). Had Florida not been called for GORE before the polls closed in the panhandle there never would have been a dispute there.
Of course. When I saw that CNN refused to call not only Ohio but other definite states for Bush all evening, I knew they were in collaboration with the DNC. CNN operatives had been advised of the fraudulent provisional ballot coup of Ohio, which fortunately failed. On Wednesday morning, CNN still showed 254 for Bush and 252 for Kerry.
They were hoping until the last minute that the massive fraud with provisional ballots would work. WRONG!
Much credit must be given to Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, for challenging and dissipating the attempted provisional ballot fraud.
Blackwell was brave and resolute throughout the last days of the campaign, smashing every initiative by Dem lawyers to pervert the election process.
IMHO, Blackwell deserves a position in the second-term administration of Bush.
exactly..wonder if a blackberry message from Rove would have been responded to with anything but vulgar laughter.
I thought NBC called Ohio about 3-4 minutes before FOX called Ohio. Am I mistaken?
Fox said that the data from the states you mentioned weren't relible. Plus they sent the staff home 4 in the morning. You can't criticize them for that...
No, NBC called Ohio roughly 30 min after Fox.
Barone was fantastic on Tuesday night, especially after "Cruella De Estrich" came out spouting the Cayuhoga county vote would bring Bush's lead under 30K, and Barone said.."I don't see it".
Yeah but the NBC coverage after that was strange. I mean, by getting to 269 electoral votes, it meant the election was obviously over ('cause Bush would certainly win a House vote in the event of a 269-269 tie). But NBC kept going on and on for hours about how Bush needed another EV to win -- it just wasn't true.
I guess they were just trying to keep up their ratings, or they just refused to face reality.
NBC broke w/ the rest of the MSM and called Ohio for Bush shortly after FOX...notice who won the ratings battle....
NBC TOP TV AUDIENCE FOR ELECTION WRAP 10.7 RATING/15 SHARE... ABC 9.2/13... CBS 6.1/8... [CABLE RELEASED 2:30 PM ET]....
And Barone is so understated, that when he says "I don't see it", he really means "you are full of crap."
ABC, CBS, CNN: "Well, if one of Kerry's operatives "expresses his confidence", why sure, that's good enough for us."
I read this passage myself this morning on the train to work ( I broke my "no NYT" rule today for schadenfreudal reasons) and it made my blood boil.
I'm glad you posted this.. it needs to be fully exposed and amplified. Hopefully, there's many articles and books forthcoming on the disgusting performance of the left wing and the media on Election Day.
bet it as Mark Haleprin who called for the halt at ABC..
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