by Allie Martin
(AgapePress) – A new book on The New York Times bestseller list details not only how former Vice President Al Gore tried to capture the White House “at any cost,” but also how the networks helped him do it.
All four of the major television networks faced harsh criticism last November for declaring Vice President Gore the winner in Florida one hour before polls in that state’s Central Time Zone had closed.
Bill Sammon, senior White House correspondent for The Washington Times explains in his new book At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election that the television networks were relying on flawed data from a company called the Voter News Service on election night.
“They didn’t really explain it,” Sammon says. “There were these people I call ‘decision deskers’ — these obscure numbers crunchers and statisticians that are stuck in some back room and away from the cameras — and they’re sitting there with a computer screen looking at these screenfuls of VNS data, terribly flawed data, and they’re sort of making these educated guesstimates, making the sign of the cross, giving it one final white-knuckle blessing and then calling a state.”
“They’re divining the intentions of tens of millions of people and how they voted, even before all the ballots were counted,” he says. Sammon says all the networks used VNS data as a cost-saving measure.
Throughout the 36 days following last November’s presidential election, both Gore and George W. Bush were portrayed in the national media as being equally responsible for the recounts. However, Sammon argues that Gore was the antagonist.
“Let’s get real,” Sammon says. “Bush won the count. He won every single recount, and by definition, Gore was the antagonist. He was the guy trying to reverse the status quo; he was the guy that was always doing the attacking, and Bush was basically reduced to playing defense for those 36 days. He was always awaiting Gore’s next move. He wasn’t really in control of the agenda, Gore was entirely in control of the agenda.”
Sammon believes it will be tough, if not impossible, for Gore to capture the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
