Election 2004: The Urban Legend

[helderheid]

June 18th, 2007

PDA Invites you to join our Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections Google Group

Originally published on June 13 on “Scoop” Independent News
Michael Collins

This analysis is based on original, unpublished research by[br />web commentator, anaxarchos, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude]



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See also companion article… “Sludge Report #177 – Bigger Than Watergate II”

IMPORTANT NOTE: Publication of this story marks a watershed in American political history. It is offered freely for publication in full or part on any and all internet forums, blogs and noticeboards. All other media are also encouraged to utilise material. Readers are encouraged to forward this to friends and acquaintances in the United States and elsewhere.
Download Word Doc. Version – Bigger Than Watergate II
Download Word Doc. Version – The Urban Legend
Download Word Doc. – Executive Summary 2 Pages For Printing

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The night of November 2, 2004, was exhilarating or devastating, depending on how you voted and where you were. If you were a rural conservative who voted based on your religious affinity to Bush, you were elated. You were also relieved, because your peers had not turned out with the same enthusiasm that they had shown in 2000. If you were in the suburbs and had campaigned hard for Kerry, you were probably devastated. After all that work in your first campaign ever, the big crowds and the optimistic polls, your man lost. But if you were white, living in a large city, and probably a returning voter after missing several elections, you were positively exuberant. You and your like-minded peers continued George W. Bush’s reign as the 43rd President of the United States. It was a miracle.

This election was a sight to see. Few in the country had the vantage point of network news commentators. Throughout the day these experts received a stream of information from the exit polls of the National Election Pool (NEP). Sponsored by a media consortium consisting of the four major television networks plus CNN and the Associated Press, the NEP provided the most sophisticated polling data ever.

The pundits had the national Exit Poll of 13,660 respondents 1 and parallel State Exit Polls of over 77,000 respondents. The NEP was the only source on “who voted for each candidate; why the voters in each area made critical choices; and where geographical differences on candidates and issues were a factor.”

If you paid attention and knew your craft, you were on fire. Election 2004 was the best thing to happen since Truman beat Dewey and you probably weren’t around for that. It was a unique moment. Just a day or two after the election, experienced analyst Charles Cook practically gushed after he studied the exit polls saying the Bush effort was “…unquestionably …the best planned, best executed presidential campaign ever.”2
read more

[helderheid]

1. kick?

[L. Coyote]

2. SCOOP = Election 2004: The Bush Urban Legend

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1102374

[helderheid]

8. yes! Just wanted to point out it was on the PDA blog as well.

:hi:

[autorank]

3. K*R...but I'm biased.

PDA is a perfect audience for this.

Thanks so much. This is great news!

[Kurovski]

4. Me too.

Kick, previously recommended. :hi:

[yowzayowzayowza]

5. Ongoing discussion of same:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x474094

[Kurovski]

6. The article is making it's way across the internet.

It keeps getting picked up by different sites.

Congrats to all who worked on it.

[mod mom]

7. PDA is a great group. Glad to see they picked up this article for distribution.

[autorank]

9. They're great, I couldn't be happier with that coverage.

There's a big faction of PDA that's very involved in voting rights and clean elections.

:hi:

[mod mom]

29. Yep, we have 2 fine twin brothers in the state of Ohio that run PDA, here.

Both are to be highly commended!

[bleever]

10. Extremely powerful antidote to Dem squeamishness about crying foul.

Thom Hartmann said on his show this morning that in talking to a very high-level operative with the Kerry campaign, he was told that the campaign knew that Kerry might have won Ohio, and knew that voting machine "red shifts" in other states might well have changed the outcome of the election, but that Democrats will never talk about this stuff because they think they will be branded by Republicans as crazy UFO-believing conspiracy nuts.

Talk about your battered spouse syndrome: better to keep getting beat than to face being called names.

K and freakin' R.

[Kurovski]

11. The battered spouses of the Democratic Party.

Exactly right. Right-wing movements throughout history have been batterers.

The batterers were out the very next day after the stolen election in 2004. They're still here.

How are you, bleever? :hi:

[bleever]

12. Sick of letting the bullies set the agenda,

a la "But what will Hannity say?" :)

Time to stand up, call them on their bluff, and call them on their crimes.

:hi:

[Kurovski]

13. OMG! I forgot!

What WILL Hannity say?!! :scared:

[bleever]

14. Steady there; steady...

:rofl:

[Kurovski]

15. I mean, he's so dreamy

I'd just HATE it if he didn't like me.

[bleever]

16. If we just had a more positive attitude towards losing,

we wouldn't be so negative about it, and get disagreeable and even unhinged about it. :thumbsup:

It's important to be the very best kind of loser, so we don't make the winners angry so they have to hit us. :thumbsup: :7 :thumbsup:

[Patsy Stone]

17. Don't

believe the hype hair, it's covering insecurities. He's probably just shy, and afraid to approach you. Why don't you go over and ask him to dance?

:hi:

[Kurovski]

18. Oh my gosh! Patsy, d'ya think I SHOULD?!

omagoshomagoshomagosh!!! Are my seams straight? Should I freshen my lipstick? Is my idealogy properly adjusted enough for him?

I'm gonna faint!

:hi: Yer a' pal!

[Patsy Stone]

19. Here, c'mere...

Nothing will matter once he gets near your minty fresh breath:

And your nose is a bit shiny:

But other than that, if he doesn't appreciate you for you, he's a fool. If you really feel the need, adjust the ideology a little further to the left to over-compensate, This way, the two of you won't capsize during the Fox Trot.

[Kurovski]

20. What about the Watusi?

Don't forget the Watusi.

Oh, but gee. It would be pretty swell, kinda, if we fell over on the dance floor, the oppressive heat of his lunky body pinning me down, keeping me immobile, him whispering in my ear "Saddam had weapons of mass destruction", not letting me up until I tell him "impeachment's off the table, my darling."

Life is for dreaming. Never forget that Patsy, my bestest friend ever here at George W. Bush High.

[Patsy Stone]

21. BFF!

Congrats to the Class of 2009! We never thought you'd make it.

2 Cool
2 Be
4 Gotten

It might look more like a half nelson, he's got that wrestler "feel" about him.

[Kurovski]

22. It would probably hurt a little,

but given my views on the separation of church and state, I'm sure I'd deserve it.

Please Sean, tell me what to do so you'll stop making it hurt! :cry:

Should we apologize for hijacking this thread? what thread are we on anyway? Is it auto's?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, um...you person, you. auto?

[bleever]

23. Kick.

;)

[Kurovski]

24. Sorry, helderheid...

:blush: Patsy made me do it. :evilgrin:

You'll vouch for me, won'cha, bleev?

[Patsy Stone]

27. But I also signed up for membership

in the group, so I hope she's not that mad at us and I'll be approved.

Sorry, helderheid.

[Kurovski]

28. Kick.

Good afternoon, Ma'am. :hide:

[bleever]

25. People, it's important to see what this means:

In 2004, Bush lost big parts of the places that almost won him 2000, but beat Kerry because of his massive gains in the places he had lost four years earlier!

Something here is messed up, beyond me responding to my own post.

[althecat]

26. Thanks Helderheid..... the PDA post looks great!