Rather Rued "Roadblock" for Gore; Jennings Suggested Gore a "Victim"; FNC Disclosed Broward Hand Count Shenanigans

© 2000

1) Dan Rather adopted the Gore team spin in leading his broadcast by characterizing a court ruling as a "roadblock" in Gore’s effort for a "fast-track Florida vote count."

2) Jennings, Rather and Brokaw all pressed Al Gore with tough questions on procedural matters, but none cast doubt on the legitimacy of his pursuit. Jennings also asked Gore if he thinks he’s "the victim of circumstance" and Rather wondered if Gore believed "that the Bush forces are being if not dishonest, at least not all together straight forward..."

3) Al Gore displayed a remarkable level of lack of knowledge about computers, but none of the network anchors picked up on it. Gore asserted: "It’s just like the supermarket check out line where that scanner misses some of the items and the clerk has to go back and write it in by hand." Huh? "Write...by hand" into a computer?

4) Brokaw suggested to Cheney that if the Florida legislature assigns Bush electors and the bill is signed by Jeb Bush, "won’t that just simply politicize this entire affair, and won’t that make it very questionable as you try to take office on January 20th in the eyes of the American public?"

5) Fourteen times as many people think Gore as Bush should concede, determined a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

6) While ABC, CBS and NBC were giving air time to Gore’s mantra about "fair and accurate" hand counts, FNC demonstrated how a look at the transcripts of the Broward County canvassing board decision-making last week revealed "a process that is anything but fair or accurate."

7) Picking up on how Dan Rather on Sunday night characterized Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris’s certification action, FNC’s Brit Hume played clips of Rather discrediting the import of her decision by stressing it’s how "she sees it."

8) Campaign 2000 Media Reality Check. "Patience Is a Very Partisan Thing: Network Stars Wanted the Impeachment Trial Cut Short, Hammered GOP for ‘Lengthening the Process.’"

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000