Bush-Kerry Debate Draws 62.5M Viewers

[Career Prole]

NEW YORK - With an estimated 62.5 million viewers, the first Bush-Kerry debate was a television hit that demonstrated Americans' intense interest in the presidential campaign.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=494&ncid=696&e=1&u=/ap/20041001/ap_en_tv/debate_tv

Sure was a mess o' folks showed up at that ass-whuppin'! :D

[llmart]

1. Will the media whores.......

start talking about a 13-point bounce for Kerry? Don't hold your breath.

[stepnw1f]

4. There's No Need to (nt)

[Born Free]

20. "Will the media whores......."

"start talking about a 13-point bounce for Kerry? Don't hold your breath."


It will make it more diffilcult for them to convince Americans the bush coward actually won the debate, but those people that actually saw it will know, especially those people that knew enough to watch it on CSPAN and not listen to all the talking heads.

[coreystone]

23. Nothing wrong with listening to the "talking heads".......if

one fully understands where the paycheck comes from; it is almost funny! I agree that there may be many people who might rely on these guys to "help" them think it out.:eyes:

[LiberalFighter]

33. Anyone have the numbers that watched the first Gore/gw* debate?

[Eye and Monkey]

2. 25% of the entire US watched Chimpie's failure. Feel good, Chimpie???

[Career Prole]

6. LOL! I just remembered a trip to a zoo as a boy.

Big crowd in front of the chimp cage watching the shenanigans when one of 'em jumped up and grabbed the bars with his hands and feet and peed all over the folks in front.
The zoo employee said big crowds made them nervous.
Watch out, front row!

[Ironpost]

9. watch out front row

[kskiska]

18. Actually, the reason they were nervous

was most likely the fact that people were excited – laughing and smiling. To a monkey, a show of teeth means aggression, not amusement.

[henslee]

8. I feel sexy and energized. Finally, we caught a little wind. With bias

the way it is, it illustrates how pitiful Bush really is -- can't even take double digit lead with the media so pathetically behind him.

[daleo]

3. That seems like a lot, all right

I would guess that would translate to about one voting age person in three. Assuming that the undecided tuned in in at least those proportions, that could swing a lot of votes. It will be interesting (in a sick sort of way) to see how the right wing press tries to spin the polls in a few days.

[Career Prole]

5. I've already seen a headline today in an "unbiased" news article on-line

stating "Bush, Kerry Both Claim Victory".
Talk about your headline bias. :puke:

[beyurslf]

7. Wouldn't that be something like the losers of the Superbowl

claiming they won, and the newspaper reporting it as a tie?

[Career Prole]

10. Preeeeecisely! But in politics and football both

real students of the game know the difference! :toast:

[NeoConsSuck]

11. Let the media whores try to sugarcoat this debate..

for Bush. It *AIN'T gonna work. Every poll had JK winning by at least 70-30 margin. If anything, the media giants are just going to lose more and more credibility among the average American.

[JoFerret]

27. Nothing biased about that

They both do claim victory. It's just that the Bush bunch of folks/ evil-doers are spinning lying and deluded.

[LiberalFighter]

34. Well duhhhh.... who would say they didn't do well?

[Career Prole]

42. Know what "headline bias" is?

Headlines are meant to get the reader’s attention, which is why they are bolded and often have a larger type-size and/or font. Many people choose whether or not to read an article after reading the headline. Many times in fact, people think the headline is the "Cliff Notes" for the article itself. The article which had the headline I made mention of was like all the other articles October 1st...Kerry appeared to have the upper hand and snap polls bore that out.
One quote in the entire article went to a repuke hack claiming a narrow bush victory.
The headline for the story was not at all indicative about what the article was about, and someone reading that headline who didn't watch the debate or read other articles about the debate would probably conclude from the headline that the debate was a tie.

[cliss]

12. The biggest problem that I see

is that it's already set the stage for next Thursday with Debate #2. BeetleBrain is going to be quite a big more nervous this time around. #2 is going to focus on the economy and domestic issues. These are NOT good issues for Bash.

Kerry will be able to count on his fingers all the disasters that have happened here at home, like a sagging economy, real unemployment down, inflation on the rise, energy prices through the roof. Brash is going to be sweaty, to say the least.

His coaches will reflect that tension and start urging him to prep even more. Bush will be tempted, more than EVER BEFORE, to slug down a few chugs of tequila right before the stress-filled evening. Or, maybe a few lines of coke to soothe the tension. Yeah, that's it.

[liberalcanuck]

26. I agree...

#2 is going to focus on the economy and domestic issues. These are NOT good issues for Bash.

It's hard for me not to laugh every time the 'media' says that foreign policy is *'s strong suit. When he got selected he barely knew, if any, names of foreign leaders. What makes him such a freakin' expert now? What positive foreign policy issue can we attribute to the chimp-in-chief? Kerry exposed him for the simple-minded dim-wit that he is.

Now... let us enjoy the slow evisceration of this numbskull on his domestic policy. He truly has absolutely no positive record to run on.

Go Kerry!

:yourock:

[wabeewoman]

13. My local paper

The Tacoma News Tribune is usually pretty good but I sure would not have known from reading it that Kerry kicked bush's ass. It was very 'evenly' written, basically matching quotes and did, in no way, give a sense of how the debate really went. Disappointing.

[Polemonium]

14. There is alot of this around, but 60Million people

saw the truth. You can't spin that away.

[LiberalFighter]

35. That is where you do your part in writing a LTTE

[ArnoldLayne]

43. You can't fool people

that actually watched it. It wasn't a debate Kerry took Bush to a clinic,it was an debacle for Bush. :evilgrin:

[sal]

15. kick

[tom_paine]

16. GREAT NEWS!

:party:

[Bush was AWOL]

17. I've talk to a lot of people today (republicans included)

and they all thought Kerry came off as more presidential. All felt he was calm, cool and hit better points than Bush. This was supposed to be GWB's strongest area and he got his ass handed to him by a "Massachusetts Liberal". I fucking love the irony.

[ArnoldLayne]

44. It was a smackdown

:dem:

[JCMach1]

19. Rove's head will explode over this!!!

:)

[lil-petunia]

22. Rove has some plans, but they may be too little, too late.

Think of the impact on all things political.

From what I have seen, on average 74% of TV viewers thought that Kerry won the debate.

Forget about O'Rarely, Scarborough and others. Look deeper into the corporate broadcasting soul. To those who actually set the stories and create the agendas. If 64 million viewers saw, and said, "we prefer Kerry", you can bet that there will be a shift - subtle at first, but HUGE over time - towards Kerry and away from Shrub.

As important, several were questioning Bush's capacity to talk, act, or even survive without reading his canned 30 minute prep talk. They more they dig, the more they will make of his carefully screened audiences and their refusal to have him appear in public.

64 million people cared. And they cared enough to vote electronically on CNN, MSNBC, Faux and other places. That has a unbelievable impact. just wait and see.

[Career Prole]

25. Good observation, lil-petunia!

"As important, several were questioning Bush's capacity to talk, act, or even survive without reading his canned 30 minute prep talk. They more they dig, the more they will make of his carefully screened audiences and their refusal to have him appear in public."

While they're on that thought, you should say something like "Kinda makes you wonder again why Cheney had to accompany bush for his 9/11 commission 'testimony'".

[LiberalFighter]

36. It should raise some doubts/questions about gw*s mtgs with foreign leaders

How does one negogiate or have meaningful dialogue with leaders of other nations when he has trouble debating when the debate is easier than a real debate?

How does one have the respect of other leaders when he has difficulty in expressing himself and providing the appropriate responses?

[Career Prole]

46. That's another good point, LF...

I'd be willing to bet every world leader who has met him walked away from that first meeting wondering how in hell that dolt got the job.

[goforit]

24. Hey.....Bush did exactly what ROVE wanted him to! Rove failed!!!!

[despairing optimist]

47. Rove relies on most voters not to be looking, but they were!

Spin won't work now. There's not enough time to create, repeat, and spread the lie. The only trick left in the bag is some sudden, dramatic action, and it can backfire. At long last, people are waking up.

[Swamp Rat]

21. Awesome!!!

62 million people saw Bush get his ass kicked by Kerry, and the GOP haven't got enough money to spin this, though they will try.

[Ohio rules]

28. How many viewers watched til the end?

I don't know where to find that Neilson nightly/hourly breakdown web site.
Anybody got a link?

[54anickel]

29. Weird, when I pulled up the article, it had an ad to the DNC website

linked. An attempt to discredit any pro Kerry opinions?

http://www.democrats.org/debates/update.html

[SilverSurfer]

30. Thats only 20% of the Country... What is the other 80% doing?

Where is everyone else? Working or watching some other Television Channel...

[Ohio rules]

31. ? ZZZZZzzzzz....?

Why did they call the controlled question and answer session A Debate ?

many didn't stay to watch the whole show.

[LiberalFighter]

37. Actually closer to 29% of those eligible to vote

Probably closer to 46% of those that will vote might had watched the debate.


2000 Election
205,815,000 Voter Age Population
156,421,311 Registered Voters
76% Percent Registered
105,586,274 Turnout


My projection was based on 2003 estimates of 137M voting in 2004

[sofa king]

41. It might be very important.

Only about 104 million people voted in 2000. According to Dave Leip's masterful site, that was 54.5% of the voting age population.

It's possible to make some guesses about who watched the debates as well. Underage Americans were probably not well represented, if they were counted at all. Irredeemably apathetic Americans, who make up a disturbingly significant proportion of the voting-age population, were probably also out smelling the roses.

Who knows? Maybe half of all of the people who are going to vote in this election actually saw the debate. And of those, the vast majority thought that Kerry was more clear, more competent, and more knowledgable.

[sr_pacifica]

45. There were those who might have watched reruns of it

If they had other commitments at the time of the live broadcast. Did the count include those?

[Rose Siding]

32. Maybe this interest will clue the networks in....

If they know politics gets an audience, maybe they'll give it more time.

[Deja Q]

38. Wow! That's a huge audience... maybe the advertisers will

convince the networks to do this more often, and include commercials!

"The latest presidential debate. Brought to you by Jack Daniels and Pampers!"


Edit: Expanded first sentence to include "and include commercials!"

[truthisfreedom]

39. Faux NOT showing next debate!

The second presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 8. Fox will not televise that debate because of baseball playoffs.

obviously they know the debates are making bush look really bad, so they can't afford to put his idiot face on the screen.

[warrens]

40. Interesting reaction

I was in VERY Republican Nashville at a VERY Republican convention, and most of the people I talked to only saw part of the debate. The part they saw, though, was Smirk making faces. In the bar where I watched it, the crowd was split about 50/50. But it was us DEMS who were making all the noise. The Republicans were quiet and sullen.

I talked to several Republicans I know yesterday and today. Most of them have decided not to vote for Smirk. A couple might vote for Kerry. If Kerry keeps this up, it will be a rout.

[Career Prole]

48. "The Republicans were quiet and sullen."

That's what I was seeing at work Friday. They were all angry.
No joy in Mudville. :D

[rocktivity]

49. This part was music to my eyes

C-SPAN, as it has done in the past, had a split-screen image of Bush and Kerry for the entire debate. "If you were in the audience and in the room, you got to see the reactions," said Brian Lamb, C-SPAN's chairman and chief executive. "Why shouldn't the public?"
I watched it on C-SPAN, and I thought that since there was only one video feed from Fox that all the stations were doing it as a split screen. I not only agree with Mr. Lamb, I'm glad I got to see both candidates as they really were. I hope this means that Cspan is going to stick to their guns with the remaining debates. Is it so much to ask that they have a camera locked on them for ninety minutes?

Unlike ABC and CBS, (NBC) did not conduct an instant poll of viewers to determine who won or lost..."We gave it a lot of thought as a network news division," (executive producer Tom)...Touchet said. "It's important for us not to be an active part of the decision-making process, to let the facts present themselves and not to in any way, shape or form declare a winner or loser."
Translation: "We gave it a lot of thought as the subsidiary of a major defense contrctor. It's important for us to protect the military and media monopoly interests of our parent companies. Presenting the facts would result in the public declaring Bush as the loser of the debate, and that would be REAL bad for business!"

:headbang:
rocknation

[fujiyama]

50. Kerry nailed

what was probably the most important debate.

The second will almost definetely not be seen by as many people. First of all, it's on a Friday night. Second, FOX isn't even playing it - they're playing a baseball game, which will draw other viewers.

THis doesn't mean Kerry can blow it. Of course not. Kerry's gotta build off this momentum and keep this going. As long as Bush gets on stage and doesn't drool, the media'll still declare him the winner. After all, some even called this a tie, which as we know is complete BS.

Even the slightest improvement for Bush will cause them to declare it a comeback.

[liberalcanuck]

51. Carlos Watson disappointed me with his scorecard. I'll be turning the

channel when he comes on now. He gave both candidates a b+ and a b. What an ass.

[fujiyama]

52. He must be retarded

Bush scored a D- at best.

Many of his own supporters thought that was a terrible performance.

[RebelOne]

53. You wanna know what's funny?

One of the right-wing poll sites stated that the poll ONLY reflects the views of those who watched the debate. And I think their poll showed that Kerry had 80% of the votes of 62.5 million.