Balloongate on front-page L.A. Times Calendar section (Sat.)

[mountebank]

This article is nearly impossible to access unless you're an L.A. Times subscriber, so I thought I would summarize. It has some interesting new information.

The title of the article is "100,000 balloons a trial for producer." Here is a partial quote of what was heard by 4 million CNN viewers right after Kerry's speech ended:

"Jesus, we need more balloons. I want all balloons to go.... No confetti. No confetti. No confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? All balloons - where the hell - there's nothing falling. What the fuck are you guys doing up there?"

More from article:

<snip>

CNN said it had received permission from Mischer (the producer) to air audio from the control room from time to time to provide behind-the-scenes flavor. Though all networks had access to the audio for planning purposes, none had a similar arrangement.

<snip>

Mischer said he had no idea his control-room comments were being broadcast at the time. He said his microphone had a switch allowing him to update the networks and media, including CNN, about schedule changes but that the switch was "unequivocably" in the off position during the balloon drop.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "It was so chaotic at the end. I had absolutely no idea my voice was being broadcast live by CNN, and had I known it, I would have chosen some very different adjectives."

<snip>

Ok, so how the hell was CNN broadcasting Mischer's voice if the switch was "unequivocably in the off position"???

I've been harping on Balloongate a bit, and it seems the feeling of the majority of DU'ers is "move on, get over it, no big deal." But consider this quote from an article on undecided voters in the L.A. Times same day:

"He (Kerry) usually sounds kind of boring. But he was pronouncing those words so good, I have to go with him now all the way."

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-voters31jul31,1,1524244.story

If you don't think the battle for undecided voters rests largely on subtleties of perception - a battle waged largely on the voter's subconscious - then you're missing the boat. For 4 million viewers (that number taken from the L.A. Times article) CNN undermined what could have been a brilliant moment for Democrats. That's something to be disgusted about.

[LittleApple81]

1. If you listened to Randi yesterday, THEY PROBABLY knew there

was going to be trouble. Randi mentioned that somebody around her desk at the convention (because they were next to the balloons) was telling her they would not fall because the seams were on the sides, not in the center...
If this person had noticed, others probably knew and were ready...

Randi looked at this as unimportant and not detracting from the pageantry.
I didn't even notice it because I was watching PBS... would have ANYBODY known if it were not for CNN?

[mountebank]

I doubt anyone would have noticed.

I was flipping back and forth between CNN and C-SPAN to see what inanities CNN would offer up (little did I know how appalling it would be) and everything on C-SPAN looked fine. Balloons falling, confetti falling, no problem. Even the C-SPAN shots of some balloons still hanging made them look like decorations, not a malfunction.

As usual, the media made a story out of a non-story, focusing on the negative when they should have been discussing Kerry's speech.

[Adams Wulff]

3. I noticed...

I was watching C-Span, and they were panning the crowd, then panning the ceiling. It was obvious to me something was wrong, because it looked like 70-80% of the balloons were still in their netting in the rafters.

I don't need CNN to tell me what I'm seeing. I thought it was funny at the time, and knew that somebody, somewhere, was using the "F" word right at that very moment.

[salin]

5. noticed the same (watched on CSPAN)

they would periodically span the cieling/balloons... it looked like a single batch would drop at a time - then a delay and then more. We thought it odd, but didn't think much about it except perhaps there was some reason...

[jimshoes]

2. I'm disgusted...

There was absolutely no reason on Earth that CNN should be airing technicians' directions on a live feed. That's just uncalled for. I strongly feel that this was done puposely and with the intent to do harm to the Kerry campaign. If I were the Kerry campaign, I would be thinking about suing for damages.

[mountebank]

7. I wonder how CNN got the feed at all....

If the producer says the switch was off. Still, I think it was a mistake by the Kerry campaign to allow "behind-the-scenes flavor" at all, considering the media was rabidly pushing the "scripted" storyline....

[Frances]

4. It must have been a GREAT convention

if the balloons were the big criticism. I can't wait for the Daily Show.

[West Coast Democrat]

6. When I watched the CSPAN Kerry speech again last night...

I noticed that the camera panned to the balloons that were still caught on the ceiling and had not been released. But at the time I was watching the speech the first time, I didn't realize there was a problem. There were a lot of balloons falling anyway, and I guess I was just so pumped up after the Kerry speech, I didn't really think about the balloons.