Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 09/09/04 11:41 am:
Chou,

>>>Fox News? :)<<<

I didn't say they did it out of bias... just that they were wrong.

Even unbiased people make mistakes... not me of course, but other people. Or so I hear. I wouldn't know from first hand expeience or anything...

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by Chouxxx on 09/09/04 11:47 am:
:) They have been Bush's main TV cheerleader!!!!

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 09/09/04 11:51 am:
Maybe... but even they can be wron about statistical information.

What was the size of the data sample? What questions were asked? What answers were given? Was extra weight given to certain types of responders? (That is not uncommon: when it is felt that a particular group is under-represented, some pollsters give that group's answers extra weight in order to "even things out", but in fact it throws the data out of whack.) What information did the respondants have at the time they were polled? How was the information reviewed and presented? What formulas were used to do the statistical analysis? All of these things can have a HUGE effect on poll results.

I think the Fox poll was wrong for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that people still don't have the information...

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 09/09/04 1:22 pm:
Remember Chou... the more Kerry and company bring up Vietnam-era war records, the more its going to hurt Kerry who has made that the central point of his campaign.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 09/10/04 2:17 am:
A couple of updates :

A woman claiming to be Amy Barnes, daughter of former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, said Thursday that her father had fabricated claims that he used his influence to get President Bush into the Texas Air National Guard 36 years ago.In a phone call to WPAB in Dallas, Texas,she told Monica Crowley that her father was an opportunist who had lied about Bush's Guard record during a ඄ Minutes II" broadcast.

The authenticity of the memos stating that George W. Bush failed to meet standards of the Texas Air National Guard was questioned by the son of the late officer who reportedly wrote the memos.He doubted his father would have written an unsigned memo which said there was pressure to "sugarcoat" Bush's performance review.
"It just wouldn't happen," he said. "The only thing that can happen when you keep secret files like that are bad things. ... No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that."

Documents unearthed by CBS News that raise doubts about whether President Bush fulfilled his obligations to the Texas Air National Guard include several features suggesting that they were generated by a computer or word processor rather than a Vietnam War-era typewriter, experts said Thursday.

Experts consulted by a range of news organizations pointed to typographical and formatting questions about four documents as they considered the possibility that they were forged. The widow of the National Guard officer whose signature is on the bottom of the documents also disputed their authenticity.
http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_2412212

this report by New York Post reveals how bloggers were quick to discover that the documents were forgeries.

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 09/10/04 3:38 am:
Dan Rather is a disgrace to his profession. He should resign ,be terminated ,or forced to take on the roll of political commentator instead of news anchor. If he had any credibility left he destroyed it Wednesday night.

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 09/10/04 5:24 am:
Most recent poll #s

ABC/WP: Bush 52, Kerry 43, Nader 2
FOX News: Bush 47, Kerry 43, Nader 3
CBS News: Bush 49, Kerry 42, Nader 1
Gallup: Bush 52, Kerry 45, Nader 1
Newsweek: Bush 52, Kerry 41, Nader 3
Rasmussen (9/9): Bush 48, Kerry 47

Assuming that Bush's lead is partly due to the convention bump it is safe to say that they are still in a tie . Bush should not get complacent. The most positive news that he has gotten has been the news that Kerry has given up a national strategy ,and is scaling back his ad campaigns in some States that were considered battle ground.

Clarification/Follow-up by Yiddishkeit on 09/10/04 10:11 am:
Tom-

[concerning your comments]

No that would not be effective enough. The point of my strategy would be to pin point the candidiate into crediting the other for his military service contributions. A general dismissal of 527 ads was easy and evasive of the specific intentional accusations. The American public will be far more attentive when these two major parties finally face off in the debates. I'm just speaking of strategy of course since I'm not endorsing a particular candidate and neither party is "issue" bullet proof.


Bobby

Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 09/10/04 1:54 pm:
Another update...

Longtime Democratic strategist Pat Caddell said Friday that if documents aired by CBS newsman Dan Rather Wednesday night turn out to be forged, as alleged by experts, the presidential race "is over."

"It would be the end of the race," Caddell told Fox News Live. "It would be the end of the race," he repeated.

"[Democratic officials are] so involved in this," the former Carter pollster worried. "They have gotten themselves so involved in this issue [in] the last 24 hours that somebody's going to, if they're not authentic, they're going to be blamed for it. It's incredible to me that they've gotten in this."

Caddell said he wasn't trying to sensationalize the issue, explaining that instead "I'm trying to save my party, you know, by telling the truth."

He said that forfeiting the presidential race would be the least of his party's problems if Democrats are tied to any forgery scandal.

"The race is over – and we've got bigger problems than that," he warned.