With nine days left until the election George W. Bush has in insurmountable lead over the weak, prevaricating, enviro-nut and earth-tone clad automaton from Tennessee, Vice President Al Gore. Or such was the message at the time from the villagers on TV and in print and the polling fit the meme. A cadre a polling from 12 years ago today is below the orange navel-lint. All of it shows a dire forecast for the guy who got the most votes that year. (Notice the Likely/Registered voter gap in the Newsweek poll. Look familiar.)
As hurricane Sandy's spin over Washington briefly pauses the media spin in broadcast studios and news rooms, let's not forget how damaging these memes can be. The media explained away the great disenfranchisement of millions in 2000. They painted Gore as hapless candidate who tried desperately to appeal to women and appear alpha-male simultaneously, who waxed hyperbolic about his accomplishments when he had few. Anything that countered that meme was met with "La La La, I can't hear you!!!"
Imagine how things might have played out in November 2000 if the truth was told. This was a close election all along.
But since everyone agreed that George W. Bush was winning in every way, the media thought that throwing out election day and just seeing who Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia thought should run the country was a great idea. Now, just years later, they sit across tables from people who nearly ruined our nation--the Dan Senors and Ed Gillespies who cheered us into massive debt--and they just blink in accommodation as these same imps use the debt they ran up to bludgeon the POTUS who has reduced the budget deficit already by over 300 billion dollars . . .
Twelve years later, one thing is very clear to anyone who is paying attention. This should be shouted from the rooftops now in case any shenanigans occur on election day:
Obama is Winning!
Obama is Winning!
Obama is Winning!
Obama is Winning!
Obama is Winning!
So after we cleanup the mess from Sandy and everyone is safe, let's make sure we don't have the disaster of a Romney presidency before we have even finished cleaning up after George.
Sunday, Oct. 29, 2000
CNN/USA Today/Gallup Presidential Preference (Oct. 25-27)
Margin of error +- 4%
Bush 49%
Gore 42%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 3%
Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby Daily Tracking (Oct. 25-28)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 44%
Gore 43%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 5%
Browne <1
Hagelin <1
ABC News Tracking (Oct. 25-27)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 47%
Gore 46%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 4%
Battleground 2000 Daily (Oct. 23-26)
Margin of error +- 3.1%
Bush 45%
Gore 40%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 4%
Portrait of America Tracking (Oct. 25, 26, 28)
Margin of error +- 1.8%
Bush 46%
Gore 42%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 4%
Browne 1%
Phillips 0%
Hagelin<1%
Newsweek – likely voters (Oct. 25-27)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 49%
Gore 41%
Newsweek – all registered voters (Oct. 25-27)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 45%
Gore 42%
Buchanan 2%
Nader 4%
CBS News /New York Times (Oct. 18-21)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 44%
Gore 42%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 4%
Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Swing State Advantage (Oct. 27)
Margin of error +- 3%
The survey of 10 swing states include: California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Bush 45%
Gore 41%
Buchanan 2%
Nader 4%
Washington Post Tracking (Oct. 25-27)
Margin of error +- 3%
Bush 47%
Gore 46%
Buchanan 1%
Nader 4%