a thought about news organizations and bias

OK, after the second presidential debate I thought I'd look at what independent pollsters told us about who won, and then look at the individual online news organizations to see if their audience reflected the scientific polls. The independent poll found it a statistical tie between Mr Kerry and Mr Bush.

I see the CNN audience as left leaning and thought their poll would reflect that. I also believed the MSNBC audience would be a little less left, and the Foxnews.com crowd to be hard right.

CNN and MSNBC didn't let me down. The CNN vote was about 75:25 Kerry over Bush. MSNBC showed a 63:37 Kerry over Bush. I think people go to read and see what reinforces their views about life. The implication here for me is that CNN is heavily biased to the left and attracts that crowd and that MSNBC is less so.

But the FOX poll surprised me. Just as the scientific poll showed a statistical dead heat, so did FOX's poll of its visitors! Does this mean FOX is more fair and balanced after all? Interesting thought.

Something fun to do is to look for the polls on these different online news places and predict what the results are before you check them. You may not be surprised at what you see.

Bush commits suicide on live TV!!!

Tonight on television, George W Bush took his political life into his hands by confessing in no uncertain terms, his support for unborn children. That will cost him votes, to be sure, but he did it anyway.

I am shocked - shocked! I say - that nowadays, when the political climate is filled with the bouquet of "choice," that a politician bent on getting four more years in the highest office in the land has decided to take the road less travelled and actually defend the unborn.

Thank goodness Mr Kerry doesn't let his Catholic faith interfere with his political views of the sanctity of human life. We surely don't want someone influenced by any sort of faith or spirtuality to run this country!!! No "houses built on the rock" in the White House for us! Give us those shifting sands...

(Thank you Mr Bush; it was a courageous move. Those who oppose you on this may be just enough to push Mr Kerry into the White House, but you made a stand for unborn children anyway. You are a hero to them.)

Minority rules!

Sorry, another political statement ahead.

But don't you find it weird that for the umpteenth election in recent deacdes, a president will be elected by less than half the votes, less than 50%?

Isn't that sort of like taking the World Series by winning 3 out of 7 games?

And don't get me started on that electoral college prehistoric nonsense that just makes this all worse. I did not vote for Al Gore four years ago, but he did win more votes than Mr. Bush, and darn it! in America doesn't that mean he won, whether I like it or not?

The faith of George W is scary!!!

I heard a lady tonight say she was scared (truly terrified) that George W Bush lets his faith influence his decisions. I almost fell out of my car and into oncoming traffic. This lady clearly has ZERO idea what faith is all about.

One's faith, if a true faith, is core to one's existence. Being part of the core of a human being means that faith influences decisions.

What she wants is either a hypocrite, a man who claims to believe in God but won't be influenced by Him, or a man without a faith at all.

Poor George W won't be able to please that woman. Mr Kerry on the other hand... ;)

Whoever wins, we all win.

I've been watching all the daily hoopla over the upcoming elections and have come finally to a peaceful conclusion: We live in a land where a president is not a king. That really does make me feel better. Not because we can vote for our leaders, although that is a nice thing.

I'm happy that whoever becomes president in the next four years isn't going to rule the land like a Saddam or Edward I or Josef. We in America have this thing we like to call checks and balances. The president has some power, but not all power. "Them other guys" in congress have a say, too. And those nine people in choir robes have some say, although they aren't nearly as obnoxious as the lawmakers. That's a good thing.

Here's another spin. If your guy gets voted in, you'll be happy. If he loses, you can spend the next four years blaming everything under the sun on the guy. It's an American win-win situation. See?

One way or another, don't despair. If your guy loses, it won't be the end of the world. Accept loss graciously and remember that Israel had a lot of really crappy kings but the Lord didn't abandon them.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm still praying that our next president is...)