The "Kerry was toast before the debates" meme

[Bleacher Creature]

What do people think when they hear a pundit say that Bush had it in the bag before the first debate? I heard that again today and it just aggravates the hell out of me. Even when we were all at our lowest points last month, I always believed that Bush never had more than a small lead -- essentially the Ruy Texiera position.

So does it make any difference when people exaggerate Bush's pre-debate position. On one hand it reminds people that Kerry was once supposedly vulnerable. On the other, it helps show a sense of momentum.

It's probably not a big deal, but I just wanted to vent a bit.

[PCIntern]

1. Tweety that prickling

was asking question of guests which began with, "D'ya think the Democrasts coulda won if they'd had a better candidate? HEY!"

Eat s--t and die.

[Skittles]

4. wait, wait, wait

he's acting like he knows the outcome of next month's election?

[featherman]

2. George Stephanapoulus was regurgitating that one on

Nightline last night. I never watch his Sunday show but was stunned by his naivete and apparent complete lack of political sohistication... not just on that but pretty much everything that came out of his mouth.
How did he ever get a job? Isn't even "pretend" insights required for the pundit paycheck (ala Howard Fineman).

[Bleacher Creature]

6. Stephanapoulus and Russert were the two worst on this.

Tweety still acts like Bush is way ahead!

[Skittles]

3. I think that up to that point

the corporate media had "Gored" Kerry to the point of ridicule. But with the debates, the American people got to see him for themselves and GUESS WHAT? He was nothing like the corporate media had painted him.

Plus, Bush's false image as the in-control cowboy took a major beating.

But it's true, Bush has never had it "in the bag".

[IIgnoreNobody]

5. It makes me think the pundit is an asshat.

As for what effect it has on the electorate, if anything, it helps, because now is when the race is coalescing so it is good if Kerry is seen as pulling off another miracle comeback a la Iowa.

[colonel odis]

7. indeed. good point.

people love jumping on a bandwagon. look for retardlicans to bail from a sinking ship.

[AirAmFan]

8. Debates were CRUCIAL. For the first time, somebody held * ACCOUNTABLE

for his unprecedented screwups on counterterror, foreign policy, the deficit, the economy, health coverage, education reform, etc.

I don't know how polling trends would have played out without the debates. But I do know that Rove's Orwellian strategy was working with many Americans, who'd been scared into believing President Stupid's outright lies over the truths they were experiencing in their own lives. We were moving toward a Soviet press model, with Fox News as Pravda and the rest of the media as Izvestia. We were awfully close to complete insulation of an appointed President from any real popular accountability.

IMO there ought to be a Presidental Accountability Law, mandating at least six debates in September and October every election year, organized by the League of Women Voters, and forcing the POTUS to hold at least one full news conference every month, to be presided over by the White House Press Association.

[hyphenate]

9. The problem that gives me

is that if the right has fixed the elections, it's true. On the other hand, if we have a real, legal election, I think that it won't be true. I have so many misgivings on this election for that very reason--what if all our effort is for naught because the right has everything rigged?

[Julien Sorel]

10. Gore was down 10 points something like

two weeks before the election. The "pundits" had annointed Dean the winner of the primaries in December.

These people have demonstrated no better judgment than any reasonably intelligent person who keeps informed. Who cares what they say?

The reality is, Bush ran a campaign that had huge up front payoffs: a nonstop smear coming at Kerry from every direction, including the media. When the country actually got to see Kerry the man, unfiltered by the blubbery lips of Too Much Candy Crowley and the rest of them, reality set in. And that was the downside of Bush's campaign strategy. So the real talking point should be, "Bush was doing great running a campaign of smears, until the people got a chance to see Kerry and Bush side by side, and realized which one really fits the executive office better."

[NAO]

11. People say Kerry finally got a spine - my reply is...

No, Kerry finally got some honest media coverage. He's been the same all along.

The media have been egregious in their non-coverage of Kerry from the Democratic primaries until the debates.