Thoughts on the Election...and the coverage therein
Did anyone watch CNN last night? I think CNN should be forced to adopt the Daily Show's motto: Where more Americans get their news than probably should. I know that I'm being stupid to long for some objectivity in journalism, but this is just ridiculous!
Some thoughts from various coverages:
* You should have seen the looks of horror on the CNN people's faces when it became obvious that Bush was going to win Florida. I mean, it wasn't just shock (which registering shock for winning a "swing" state is pretty unprofessional in and of itself); it was fricking horror. It was like it had never dawned on these people that Bush might actually win, and the thought that he would TERRIFIED them.
* The Ohio thing. As the evening goes on, first the CNN crew starts saying there are 50k provisional ballots. Then, when Bush's lead hits 100k, it becomes 200k. Then as his lead continues to slowly increase, it becomes 250k. At one point Wolf seriously said "with absentee and provisional ballots, there might be 600,000 votes out there!" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? WHAT DREAM WORLD ARE YOU LIVING IN? This was at 12:45am!!!!!!!! I think like 90-95% of the vote was in at the time, and he's trying to say that 600k are left!
* So about midnight, the Secretary of State for Ohio comes on. Wolf is despirately trying to get the guy to say that there are 250k provisional votes, so Kerry can still have a chance to take Ohio. The Secratery keeps saying, "I will not make any projections, and I will not make estimates on the number of votes." Wolf asked him specifically if there were 250k votes--practically BEGGED him to say there were--at least ten times, and the guy would never do it.
So what happens? As soon as The Secretary leaves, Wolf starts talking to the other idiots out there, and says, "And the Secretary of State for Ohio just indicated to me that there are 250k votes outstanding." NO! NO HE DIDN'T YOU ASSHOLE! HE REFUSED TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANTED HIM TO TELL YOU, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG! STOP LYING! JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN DOESN'T MEAN IT'S THE TRUTH!
* Some funny quotes from the evening:
"You know, I've lived in Florida for almost 20 years, and when one candidate has 53% of the vote, the other has 47%, and 95% of the vote is in, it's safe to say that that candidate has won the state." --Larry King to his talking head colleagues as they were refusing to concede Florida to Bush.
"It appears the President has taken Florida. I don't know about you all, but this feels like after Game 3 of the Yankees-Red Sox series to me!" Some dumb bimbo on CNN, implying that Kerry was going to make the most dramatic comeback in the history of presidential elections (which is what the Red Sox did to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, taking 4 straight to win the best of seven series)
"You have to remember, a 1% win is not a small win. I've conceded before with less than that. If the automatic recount is .25%, then 1% is four times the amount necessary to declare a winner." --Rudy Giuliani
"It looks like Ohio is going to go to Bush, but we here at CNN just don't want to jump to any conclusions, so we aren't going to concede that state to the President." --Some twit on CNN who suddenly decide to have journalistic integrity. However, that integrity didn't stop them from awarding Wisconsin to Kerry even though it was closer.
* I was a little disappointed in MSNBC's coverage last night. I don't have a problem with any news network being convervative after last election, but they wouldn't project ANYTHING. They should be the somewhat neutral guys; CNN is far left, FOX is far right, MSNBC is closer to the middle. It just seemed to me like they said, "Look, we don't want to seem like we're rooting for either side, so we're just not going to say anything all night." A little disappointing.
* I was impressed with FOX last night. It might have just been that their guy was winning, but I thought they did a pretty good job of staying objective. Normally they whip me as much as CNN.
* Man John Edwards creeps me out. When he came walking out there to tell the crowd that they were going to wait for Ohio, for "every vote to be counted", he had the weirdest smile on his face! It's after 2:00am in Boston...you shouldn't look insanely happy! Upbeat, tired, positive, yes, but not with a certifiably insane grin on his face. I kept thinking of the Walkin Dude's grin; that's what it reminded me of (and to you people who don't read Stephen King, don't worry about it).
And the quote of the day goes to my beloved father, who--no matter who you voted for--summed up probably all of our feelings as I was typing this:
"The Associated Press just announced that Kerry has conceded to Bush. Thank God it’s over."
Feel free to make comments, and write your name at the bottom of your comment please! God bless America!
Some thoughts from various coverages:
* You should have seen the looks of horror on the CNN people's faces when it became obvious that Bush was going to win Florida. I mean, it wasn't just shock (which registering shock for winning a "swing" state is pretty unprofessional in and of itself); it was fricking horror. It was like it had never dawned on these people that Bush might actually win, and the thought that he would TERRIFIED them.
* The Ohio thing. As the evening goes on, first the CNN crew starts saying there are 50k provisional ballots. Then, when Bush's lead hits 100k, it becomes 200k. Then as his lead continues to slowly increase, it becomes 250k. At one point Wolf seriously said "with absentee and provisional ballots, there might be 600,000 votes out there!" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? WHAT DREAM WORLD ARE YOU LIVING IN? This was at 12:45am!!!!!!!! I think like 90-95% of the vote was in at the time, and he's trying to say that 600k are left!
* So about midnight, the Secretary of State for Ohio comes on. Wolf is despirately trying to get the guy to say that there are 250k provisional votes, so Kerry can still have a chance to take Ohio. The Secratery keeps saying, "I will not make any projections, and I will not make estimates on the number of votes." Wolf asked him specifically if there were 250k votes--practically BEGGED him to say there were--at least ten times, and the guy would never do it.
So what happens? As soon as The Secretary leaves, Wolf starts talking to the other idiots out there, and says, "And the Secretary of State for Ohio just indicated to me that there are 250k votes outstanding." NO! NO HE DIDN'T YOU ASSHOLE! HE REFUSED TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANTED HIM TO TELL YOU, BECAUSE IT'S WRONG! STOP LYING! JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN DOESN'T MEAN IT'S THE TRUTH!
* Some funny quotes from the evening:
"You know, I've lived in Florida for almost 20 years, and when one candidate has 53% of the vote, the other has 47%, and 95% of the vote is in, it's safe to say that that candidate has won the state." --Larry King to his talking head colleagues as they were refusing to concede Florida to Bush.
"It appears the President has taken Florida. I don't know about you all, but this feels like after Game 3 of the Yankees-Red Sox series to me!" Some dumb bimbo on CNN, implying that Kerry was going to make the most dramatic comeback in the history of presidential elections (which is what the Red Sox did to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, taking 4 straight to win the best of seven series)
"You have to remember, a 1% win is not a small win. I've conceded before with less than that. If the automatic recount is .25%, then 1% is four times the amount necessary to declare a winner." --Rudy Giuliani
"It looks like Ohio is going to go to Bush, but we here at CNN just don't want to jump to any conclusions, so we aren't going to concede that state to the President." --Some twit on CNN who suddenly decide to have journalistic integrity. However, that integrity didn't stop them from awarding Wisconsin to Kerry even though it was closer.
* I was a little disappointed in MSNBC's coverage last night. I don't have a problem with any news network being convervative after last election, but they wouldn't project ANYTHING. They should be the somewhat neutral guys; CNN is far left, FOX is far right, MSNBC is closer to the middle. It just seemed to me like they said, "Look, we don't want to seem like we're rooting for either side, so we're just not going to say anything all night." A little disappointing.
* I was impressed with FOX last night. It might have just been that their guy was winning, but I thought they did a pretty good job of staying objective. Normally they whip me as much as CNN.
* Man John Edwards creeps me out. When he came walking out there to tell the crowd that they were going to wait for Ohio, for "every vote to be counted", he had the weirdest smile on his face! It's after 2:00am in Boston...you shouldn't look insanely happy! Upbeat, tired, positive, yes, but not with a certifiably insane grin on his face. I kept thinking of the Walkin Dude's grin; that's what it reminded me of (and to you people who don't read Stephen King, don't worry about it).
And the quote of the day goes to my beloved father, who--no matter who you voted for--summed up probably all of our feelings as I was typing this:
"The Associated Press just announced that Kerry has conceded to Bush. Thank God it’s over."
Feel free to make comments, and write your name at the bottom of your comment please! God bless America!
posted by Michael Pondrom at 9:14 AM
2 Comments:
My coworker said on CNN that every time Bush's lead in Ohio jumped up the Democracts kept claiming there were more and more provisional ballots... starting with like 100,000 and ending with 400,000.
The Cuban Express
My coworker said on CNN that every time Bush's lead in Ohio jumped up the Democracts kept claiming there were more and more provisional ballots... starting with like 100,000 and ending with 400,000.
The Cuban Express
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