Did the major networks declare Kerry the victor on election day?

[fishwax]

They didn't did they?

I know this is a pretty dumb question, but a relative and I got in a discussion about media bias while at the dinner table over the holidays, and this was his single piece of evidence supporting the mythical "liberal media" bs.

He said that at 5:30 (he lives in the mountain time zone) all the major networks said that with 1.5% of the vote available they were going to declare Kerry the winner. I told him he heard wrong, and he insisted that's what they said. His wife heard it too. I said they were probably just talking about a single state, and he insisted it was national.

I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in the real world, but I couldn't convince him, so I figured when I got back home I'd post the question here, just in case I missed something (or to see if anybody else had any idea what he might have misinterpreted).

So they didn't did they?

[GCP]

1. No, I never heard that

And you can bet your last dollar we'd never have heard the last of it if they had.

[fishwax]

5. That's what I told him too

I just couldn't believe (a) the media would jump the gun that severely, given the 2000 experience or (b) it could have been said and not mentioned every newscast since as part of the media's self-flagellation for their "liberal bias"

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. I don't recall heaing that anytime

[Cuban_Liberal]

3. I never heard the MSM declare Kerry the winner.

I heard some speculation about early exit polls that indicated that he MIGHT win, however.

[Ready4Change]

4. They didn't. nt

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[w4rma]

7. No. But Fox and MSNBC called Bush the winner before much of Ohio was

counted.

[Bronco69]

8. Election night was the last time I watched mainstream media.

I was flipping channels to see which states had been called. They wouldn't even call the states that Kerry clearly had won until they could call some for bush*. Now, I could be wrong, but as I saw it they were careful not to let Kerry lead in electoral votes at any point during the evening. They would wait until a state was called for bush* and then give one to Kerry. Liberal media my ass!

[fishwax]

15. I had that impression too

about them not letting Kerry get a lead in the EC. It seemed to me like the standard for calling a Kerry state was different from the standard for calling a Bush state.

[Borgnine]

17. BINGO!

I noticed that too. That helped form the idea of a Bush "mandate" in the public mind.

[Merlot]

9. No, they didn't

They went out of their way to be cautious after the 2000 debacle.

They don't declare a winner before the polls close. They might speculate, but that is all.

But say for a moment that Kerry was ahead, and they did declare it was likely he would win. How does that make them liberal by suggeting the person with the most vote might win?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. You are under no obligation to prove they didn't, which they didn't. HE

is under the obligation to prove that they DID say this. Don't play this bozo's game under his rules.

[Bat Boy]

11. Cognitive Dissonance

That's how they keep the myth of the "liberal media" alive. Tell a lie so often that it becomes the truth.

They may have said exit polls showed Kerry in the lead, and they may have declared Kerry the winner in individual states, but they didn't hand him the presidency.

[KittyWampus]

12. Hell, They Didn't Even Call States Kerry WON! Meanwhile, They Posted

ALL of Junior's...

[koneko]

13. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

No freaking way did they call it for Kerry. The WingNuts would never allow for that!

Ya gotta remember this - they build their own reality, no matter how twisted. You could sit him in front of recordings of all election night coverage to prove it, and he would STILL come out of it saying the MSM called it for Kerry.

Fuckin' sheep, lined up for the Rush-O'Reilly-Hannity-Ingraham-Savage-Coulter slaughter. "Bahhhhhhhhh! Liberal media! Bahhhhhhhhh! Hanoi John! Bahhhhhhhh! Fuck the Middle East! Bahhhhhhhhh!" :puke:

[fishwax]

14. They build their own reality

I think you nailed it with that comment.

We never even got into the jist of the bias argument, because he just kept saying that's what they said and I told him I couldn't argue with him if he wanted to insist that the sky was purple.

[fishwax]

16. Thanks folks!

I was 99.9 percent sure that it didn't happen, but I wanted to post hear to clear up the other .1 percent. I had three televisions on to watch election returns, so I knew I'd have seen it if it had happened, but I was just so taken aback by the irrationality of the statement from a man who I know to have a high respect for logic that I figured I might as well doublecheck here.

Anyway, I was on the verge of telling him I'd wager two months of my salary against the change in his pocket that he was wrong (b/c I was sure he was), but then somebody managed to change the subject, to the intense relief of my dear, sweet grandmother :)