THE LIBERAL MEDIA'S COVERAGE OF ELECTION 2004
... My view of the election coverage of NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, CNN, AND CBS

NOTE TO READERS: All times listed are CST

I write this at 4:00AM in the morning of election night, November 3, 2004. My evening started with CNN and before the evening is over, I will have clicked back and forth between ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, MSNBC, & CNN more than a couple hundred times.

And friends, the evening was intriguing indeed.

When I turned on the TV at 6:00PM, I saw sparkles in the eyes of Tom Brokaw and other liberal news casters. They were downright giddy. And friends, when liberal news people are giddy, something is up.

At one point, Chris Matthews said (referring to the President's campaign) "What could they have done to pull it off tonight?" (notice that usage of past tense?). They were beginning to spell the end of the Bush Administration even before the polls in the battleground States began to close.
Even though they were not saying anything outright, I knew something was up and I was concerned.

So, armed with my computer and high speed access to the internet, I began to collect exit poll data. The data was stunning ... clearly showing a Kerry victory in the making.

Ah, ha! Now I had my answer ... no wonder the liberal media was giddy!

But, after reviewing the exit data, a few things didn't make sense to me. A lot of it didn't match the polls that I had examined over the past few weeks ... especially in the last few days. Even more telling was data that I knew had to be false ... showing Kerry getting broad support from males in some key Midwestern states.

I was skeptical.

But yet, the liberal media was a buzz with giddy news casters trying to keep their emotions in check while on the air. I settled in to watch the developments.

At one point a little before 7:00PM, Dan Rather raised his hand to try and stop another colleague from flapping his gums too much and going to far with his assessment of the election and the end of the Bush Administration. After all, the polls were still open ... and, Rather didn't want to call the election ... and they were, um, "professionals".

Then, Pennsylvania went to the Democratic column and one could almost see the liberal media jumping out of their skin with excitement.

A little later, things began to turn. We first witnessed Florida stats coming in very strong for the President. That fact sent the newscasters into a quizzical mode ... puzzlement was all over their faces. After all, exit polls showed Kerry winning Florida.

Then, more real numbers began to roll in for other States sending the newscasters into virtual depression. Tom Brokaw (NBC) looked white as a ghost. Chris Matthews (CNN) actually got mad and starting being snippy to his guest. At one point, the camera caught Dan Rather (CBS) shaking his head in disgust. Judy Woodruff's (CNN) eyes literally started to well up with tears. The camera had to break away from her fast.

Just prior to 3:00AM, the group at CNN finally admitted that the data gleamed from exit polls was off and proceeded to have a 15 minute conversation about why the data was so inaccurate. One newscaster in their group said that the media had egg on their face, again (referring to the debacle in the 2000 election), and was going to have hell to pay for conveying their thought that Bush was doomed earlier in the evening. Wolf Blitzer snapped back, "We didn't verbally project any winner based on exit polls". The newscaster responded, "Yes, but we sure did infer a lot of things".

Wolf Blitzer almost came unglued!