Good News For The GOP

CBS Sportsline reports a massive increase in viewership for the vice presidential debate vs. four years ago:

Despite competition from the baseball playoffs, five times as many television viewers watched Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, Nielsen Media Research said.
The 43.6 million viewers were up from the 29.1 million people who saw Cheney take on Democrat Joe Lieberman in 2000, and reflects the heightened interest in the race.
Fox was the only major network not to carry the Cheney-Edwards debate in the New York area. It was contractually required to show the AL Division Series Game 1 between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins, which had 8.5 million viewers.
Fox affiliates in other markets chose to carry the debate.


Of course, some folks would have you believe that John Edwards won or drew the debate, which may be the case if you watched with the sound off. But particularly given the way Cheney drilled the Kerry-Edwards team on Iraq, I’d score these ratings as excellent news for the Bush-Cheney ticket.

5 thoughts on “Good News For The GOP”

  1. I think most of the people that have paid attention to the misleads by both campaigns have also been frequent visitors to blogs. It just doesn’t seem like any mislead from either side gets much traction.
    The Swift Boat Veterans got tons of traction for their opinions, but their misleads got little traction, etc.
    So, there you have a ton of people interested in seeing what’s going on in the campaign and one of the first things out of Edwards’ mouth is that Cheney is flat out not being straight with the American people.
    Considering at one time 70% polled thought Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attacks, I think this was an eye opener for a lot of people out there.
    Furthermore, Edwards stuck to his stance on the war, and explained it quite rationally. Whatever their views may have been in the past, its been stated explicitly what their views are now, and ultimately that’s what matters. If someone wants to not vote for them because they’re flip-floppers, so be it. But the opposite tack, obstinence, hasn’t done the Administration or the country much good on many issues, so ultimately where the two candidates stand is going to matter more than whether or not they’ve changed their views.
    So, I think both candidates got in some good points, some good counter points, some good barbs, etc. I think both candidates also did their fair share of misleading. I think ultimately, as far as a debate is concerned, it was a tie.
    Bottom line. It wasn’t about Edwards vs. Cheney, it was about Kerry vs. Cheney….because a) Bush did so poorly last Thursday and b) many people believe that Cheney’s the guy calling the shots to begin with. And the more Kerry and Edwards can consistently state what their views are now, the less their flip flopping is going to matter.
    If Edwards convinced a small percentage that they’re being mislead by Cheney….
    …and if Cheney’s appearence didn’t do anything to elevate his low approval ratings….
    …then the more people who watched the better for Kerry, regardless of wether or not Cheney won the debate on points.

  2. Personally, whenever I hear any politician whining about another politician “misleading” the American people, I laugh. I think it has the exact opposite effect that is intended, in that it makes the politician who made the accusations look weak and whiny. Plus, the American people know that every politician exaggerates their point 90% of the time, so when you accuse another of doing it no one really takes you seriously.
    Edwards did it waaaaaay too often in the debate, and I think it worked against him.

  3. Valid point.
    I think Edwards did it so often because Cheney misleads, and misled so often.
    Whenever Edwards misled, Cheney pointed it out himself.
    The difference is Edwards hasn’t been misleading us for 4 years now.

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