Was the media this bad in 2000?

[Got WMD]

A little background on myself: As a former campaign worker in CO for Clinton in '92, I was heavily into politics at the time. As the '90's wore on, I became disenchanted with all the crap they put Clinton through. So I tuned out the 2000 election, and basically only remember voting for Gore and being pissed at the aftermath.
So my question is... Was it really like this in 2000? When Bush went up in the polls late, was CNN, Tweety, et. all, saying it was over 2 weeks out? Especially with today's Zogby poll. My feeling is that unless * is up 5 to 6 points on the Monday before election, this is Kerry's to win. If it's tied or * up by a point or 2 nationally, it won't even be close. Your thoughts?

[Philostopher]

1. It was pretty bad.

Go over to Bob Somerby's 'Daily Howler' (www.dailyhowler.com) and go through the archives for 2000, you can get a fairly spin-free view of how the media covered the 2000 selection. It was by no means fair. Kerry's not fighting significantly more current than Gore was -- and in fact, the usual suspects spent much of the pre-election run-up trying to attach Clinton's moral slips to Gore, though Gore had no such problems himself.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. The whoring was MUCH WORSE in 2000!

This time around they are still whores but no where near as much.

In 2000, 95% of the media was against Gore and for Bush.
In 2004, 55% of the media is against Kerry and for Bush.
The other 45% is either objective of biased for Kerry.

Bush has a pretty dismal record and the media really can't hide it and believe it or not, some are actually pissed off at Bush for this!

[seabeyond]

3. i think even more so. was a shocker

lots of hung jaws. nut there was a learning of what was happening. now it is all so clear and much easier to go after. that is why media is getting so so so bad right now, they cant lie fast or hard enough to cover all this up.

[Ruby Romaine]

4. YES-Al Gore invented the internet lie, alpha male,

love story etc
they lied non stop about Gore & never investigated AWOL Bush.

[milkyway]

5. It was a lot worse. Gore was crucified for sighing!

[cally]

6. I think it was much worse in 2000

There was a cadre of journalists on Gore's plane who felt it was 'fun' to bash Gore. There is a quote somewhere that says that. He was constantly bashed for lies and * was let off the hook. It was unbelievable.

The whoring after the vote still makes me want to :puke: literally. No reporter gave Gore a fair shot or honestly reported. I remember how they were all laughing about it when I was realizing our democracy was at stake.

[Lilli]

7. Yes, much worse

Even worse to me was that post election day, Gore was made out to be whiny and a poor sport for objecting that illegalities were happening.

[demokatgurrl]

10. And our own party, and DNC chair Ed Rendell

(my current Governor) offered Gore up afterward, didn't stick by him, bent over and took what the Repukes handed them, and I still haven't forgiven Rendell for that. And no longer trust the media.

[NNadir]

8. Yeah, but nobody noticed.

People also failed to notice that Ralph Nader was a fraudlent piece of Republican shit, but hey, there's nothing that makes you notice things than bitter experience.

[demokatgurrl]

9. I did the same as you-

busted my butt (happily, enjoying every minute of it) for Clinton in 1992; in 1996 I had a lot of personal things to deal with and was confident of a Clinton win so I just voted. Although I paid some attention in 2000, I feel horribly guilty for having done nothing and taken for granted that Gore would be treated fairly, win handily- and of course I NEVER expected the coup.

I won't be fooled again. I'm working as much as I can, and acting as though we are behind by 25 points.

[Got WMD]

14. 1992 was awesome

My senior year of college. I'll never forget the election night party at the headquarters in Denver. Just awesome!!! I think we'll have a repeat this year.

[Carni]

11. 2000 was WAY worse!

I know that doesn't seem possible but trust me they were even more rabid towards Gore.

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. So the media is getting better?

:shrug:

[Carni]

20. No, Bush has just gotten WAY worse

If you rewatch the debates with Bush/Gore in 2000...

Bush was albeit a moron and was just as crooked and unlikeable (IMO) but he was a far cry from what the public watched in this election's debates.

Bush actually looked at least lucid in 2000.

[July]

22. And he and his henchmen in power are using that power

to intimidate the media. In that sense, it's worse now.

[Carni]

26. I agree--before I think the media were just getting their personal jollys

Now it seems that they are either on the bushite payroll, or under duress!

[calico1]

12. Yes, the media was as bad.

Possibly worse. But we didn't know then what a complete incompetent ass * was. The media seems worse now to some because they are still cheerleading for this incompetent and it is just so unbeleivable to most of us. But they were not good to Gore at all in 2000. The good thing is that Gore still got the popular vote, even with all the shilling. And now, 4 years later we know what an idiot * is. So I don't think the media is very credible to most sensible people.

[dave502d]

13. Just as bad,maybe even rotter.

[donkeyotay]

16. northing has changed since 2000

The media was basically complicit in a coup in 2000. In 2004, it looks like they're all scared that they might be held accountable for their phony president and his phony war. Since the American people are mushrooms, and this isn't already a blow-out vote against corruption, I expect more of the same.

[realFedUp]

17. and as atrios pointed out, the party wasn't entirely behind Gore

Some of the Dem cabal was definitely not
behind Gore...

[Got WMD]

18. polling

It seems to me that some polling organizations (Newsweek, CNN/USA Today/Gallup) conduct their polls to confirm the stories they've already written. After the first debate, Kerry did well, so it was time to even out the percentages of dems vs. reps polled. Now they have a story already written about the Cheney comment, so it's time to return to the 40/30/30 split on the polling to give * an edge.
The Dem talking heads need to hammer this split, as well as the great news from Zogby and Rasmussen on today's talking head shows. Don't put up with this crap!!!

[JUS]

19. According to the Daily Howler it was much WORSE

www.dailyhowler.com

[July]

21. They did let Bush go the whole campaign

WITHOUT SAYING A GODDAMNED THING.

Sorry, but it infuriated me. The man said absolutely nothing of substance for the ENTIRE campaign.

[montana500]

23. yep.

They completely ignored anything about Al Gore except the lies and distortions.

[enki23]

24. worse by far

.

[Supersedeas]

25. the Media was the machine that made 2000 close--now they want more

[texasmom]

27. It was worse in 2000.

I remember waking up in October, 2000, to a changed press. The change probably happened gradually in the 90s, but it shocked and depressed me in October. There was no pretense of being unbiased.

Even "Frontline" was biased four years ago. This year's honesty in telling the story of Bush was a shocker.

It is still ugly, but some of the press seems to at least realize that they were bamboozled or that their slovenly reporting (reporting RNC talking points) has cost thousands of lives with more likely to be lost.