Admittedly, Dan Abrams is just another Corporate Media Whore

[FrenchieCat]

I watched the first part of his show this evening, and had to turn it off.
I wrote him a letter in reference to what I found objectionable about his performance.

I wrote him a letter and sent it through his "Beat the Press" comment box:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19599749/

I also sent this to:
American Journalism Review [e-mail]
Columbia journalism Review [e-mail]
Committee of Concerned Journalists [e-mail]
FAIR [e-mail]
Institute of Public Accuracy [e-mail]
journal of Mass Media Ethics [e-mail]
Media Matters [e-mail]

Dear Mr. Abrams,

I was taken aback to see you quote a daily Rasmussen poll today that showed McCain leading Obama by 1 point, 47-46. In actuality that poll shows Obama and McCain tied at 44%. What you were showing was the "leaner" portion of the poll without making mention that this was what you were showing. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

Further, the daily Gallup poll that you showed last in your previous show, today showed Obama leading McCain, 46 to 43%.
http://www.gallup.com/

I am already very suspect of the press and its reporting and have attempted to trust you to date. Unfortunately, as of today, that is no longer possible, and in fact, you have confirmed why I do not trust the media. Polls are often-time used to manipulate the public, and you showed that you can also play that game. I guess if enough television pundits insist that negative ads work, in particular the ad put out by McCain on Obama, the best way to illustrate this is to hold up a poll that shows something different from when the last time people saw a poll. Problem is that wasn't the same polling company as the last time, the real polling numbers were not revealed (tied at 44%), and the causal relationship between the ads and the poll although not proven or clear, were discussed between you and the guest pundits as fact. All in all, a very unprofessional meant to mislead, manipulative and deceitful presentation.

I fear for my family and my country precisely because we no longer have a 4th estate, a free press that can inform us on matters of importance. Instead we have a bought and paid for press that attempts to manipulate us each and every day. Frankly, Mr. Abrams, I fear that many members of the corporate media should be considered treasonous individuals. When I look into the faces of my sleeping children, I cannot help but cry for the country. I get a chill realizing where we are as a country versus where we should be. It is all very demoralizing and sadder still to realize that as an attorney who has studied law, you have no regard for ethics while speaking to hundreds of thousands of people each day who want to trust you. You may not think this is disturbing, but to some of us who are still ethical it is.

I cannot doubt that you are well compensated for your services and sleep fine at night, but still know that some of us do not. Doing the right thing is not something I believe you currently understand, which may be why you are a part of the problem, unfortunately. I hope that one day you will realize your role in hurting this country, and maybe then, if it isn't too late, you will see the "good German" in yourself and feel a certain shame. Good luck. You have lost a viewer tonight.

Seriously,

XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX

[NanceGreggs]

1. Nailed it!

:applause:

[FrenchieCat]

3. Those little things that they don't think anyone will notice.......

They really are a bunch of traitors....and not much else. :(

[Genevieve]

2. Excellent!! K and R, nt

[cboy4]

4. You should be more concerned about the fact that it's

a tie.

Writing a letter like this does nothing to help the Democrats win in November.

[FrenchieCat]

6. I'm more concerned for the truth, if you don't mind.

It is the tricks and the deceit that insults me. The incessant polling and the reliability of the polling is already one thing, but just out and out lying about results of said questionable polls in such a manner makes things quite unbearable. Kinda of like slap my face while you hit me in the stomach feeling.

And one daily poll tied is the result of the manipulation that the media is guilty of; as illustrated in my letter.

[PoiBoy]

5. Excellent letter...!!

I felt the exact same way when I tried watching Abram's show tonight... In fact, I decided to stop watching Verdict altogether after trying to sit thru tonight's opening segment.

Great letter exposing his BS... Good on ya..!!!

:hi:

[FrenchieCat]

17. Those McCain fans fell asleep waiting for the rapture!

McCain! he's THE ONE!

[Cha]

7. Brilliant letter and when dan abrams reads it..

he'll know he's busted by the intelligent section of his audience.

[spag68]

25. abrams

What makes you think he will ever read this letter? Some insipid secretary will look through the daily mail dump and even though there are big words there, will probably get the drift and place it firmly into the circular file. I liked the letter though.

[Green Mountain Dem]

8. Awesome just awesome.....

I would have been especially proud to add my name to your letter if I could. I know I could not have said it better and would not have changed one word...you went right to his soul and in a perfect world he would see and understand your despair. I will not hold my breath!

You did real good...what more can be asked?


edited to K&R

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

9. Doesn't alter your point, but reported poll results are usually w/ leaners

Rasmussen publishes the two figures, but most polls this late in the cycle push leaners and use the pushed figure as the headline number.

With the election 90-some days away, going forward all poll results we hear will be pushed figures. (And more and more will be LV)

Doesn't invalidate your letter, but is something to know.

[FrenchieCat]

10. "this late in the cycle"?

Monday, August 04, 2008 Email to a FriendAdvertisement
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows the race for the White House is tied with Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 44% of the vote.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

Note the "lead sentence" of said article. There is a reason its called the lead.

Please go elsewhere with your excuses. Thank you.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

13. What a nasty, thoughtless self-satisfied person you (still) are

I noted that what I said did not invalidate your letter--you are right to prefer the headline number because that's the headline number. I was being gracious, a concept with which your unfamiliarity has been long demonstrated.

My point is that most headline numbers are pushed figures. That fact is not generally advertised by pollsters and probably not generally known by news consumers.

That's a fact... I know you don't care for those but it may be of interest to a less constitutionally dishonest person who has an interest in polling and the usual way poll results are summarized and reported.

Anyway, I apologize for having you off ignore. I shan't trouble you again.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Thanks. You've been gracious to me for quite some time......

the problem is that your slickness and underhandedness does not escape my notice. You cleary have an agenda, and although you tend to be quite careful, it still shows. The fact that you try to hide it does bug me. I call you on it quite a bit, and yet you still don't seem to see that your slip is showing. Try harder for the others, and please put me back on ignore; it is most likely best for the both of us. Good bye.

[babylonsister]

11. Outstanding, Frenchie. Outstanding and rec'd. nt

[FrenchieCat]

12. Thanks.

These people, "the Good Germans" as I see them are unexcusable. They consider it all a game; one that affect life and death of us all.

Really truly despicable! :(

[azmouse]

15. Well said!

I've turned off all the talking heads except Olbermann. I've had enough of the bias for McBush.
I'm using the time and energy to work for Obama.

[FrenchieCat]

16. The couple I like are not enough to keep my television on.

That's just a fact.

[BzaDem]

18. Um, that's how polls are almost always reported.

Whenever a poll has results with and without leaners, most of the press reports with leaners. Dan Abrams certainly does, and often the margin with leaners are the same as the one without, or it is slightly more in Obama's favor. I never saw a response from you indicating how horrible it was when the discrepancy favored Obama.

There is no reason to personally insult others in this thread when they simply point out the obvious, whether or not you agree with it.

[FrenchieCat]

19. I have been following elections, and they have not been reporting the leaner results.

In addition, they have been using the Gallup poll rather than Rasmussen for quite some time. Selecting the only poll showing McCain ahead of Obama is not a coincidence.

But thank you for your input.

[DFLforever]

21. The didn't use 'leaners' in the primaries

In fact, Survey USA 'leans' heavily on their undecideds to force a decision while Rasmussen has not.

I don't know enough about Gallup to comment, but Rasmussen is The Repubs favorite pollster, does much of their private polling, and I assume is under very heavy pressure to get good public poll results for McCain. Sample weighting is their easiest tool. I notice they included the so-called 'leaners' to get McCain over the ceiling of 44 he's been stuck under for the last two months.

I'll go even further and suggest these 'good' poll results are part of McCain's campaign strategy in terms of 'evening the odds' perception and bringing in more money for his campaign and the RNC.

[BzaDem]

24. Whenever they present a Rasmussen tracking poll, most reporting presents the leaner result.

If anything, presenting with leaners is more accurate and less misleading than presenting without leaners. If someone is leaning towards Obama today, odds are that if the election were held today, they would vote for Obama, not McCain, same for vice versa.

I'm not saying that either of them are particuarly accurate, especially since minor jumps are within the margin of error. I'm just saying they didn't go out of their way to find the most misleading result to present Obama in the worst light. Again, there have been nights when I watched where Dan Abrams has presented the leaner result of the Rasmussen poll where it has benefited Obama (because I remembered reading a different result online, and I realized the difference after I checked).

Talking about the "fall of the fourth estate" because of this is a bit of an overreaction, to say the least.

[FrenchieCat]

28. You can keep repeating it, and it won't be true......

I have been here the whole time, and I don't blink a lot.
The media has NOT been reporting leaners when using Rasmussen. period.

The polls get reported here and sometimes on the news just about everyday. And this is not the first time that they use selective polling, it is their mode of operation. I just felt that because the Rasmussen poll is the only, only polls showing McCain ahead, this is why they used it this time, and it was too blatantly done this time.

In terms of the fact that there is no longer a 4th estate, please do not insult my intelligence by telling me what I am overeacting to.

And that is all that I will say to you, because at this point that is what is best.

[BzaDem]

29. Sigh. Why do you keep digging a hole when your assertions are so easily disproven with Google?

Let's look at CBS news on July 23.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/24/usnews/whispers/main4291268.shtml

"Rasmussen tracking shows him ahead by just 47 percent to 45 percent and the day before had the race at a 46 percent-to-46 percent tie."

Rasmussen with leaners on 7/23: 47-45
RAsmussen with leaners on 7/22: 46-46.

Let's look at the Miami Herald on July 27th.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/619764.html
"The Rasmussen poll found Obama leading 49-44 percent, gaining five points from earlier in the week."

Rasmussen with leaners on 7/27: 49-44

Let's look at the Huffington Post on August 3rd:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandy-goodman/for-obama-the-latest-news_b_116489.html
"Rasmussen's latest surveys show Obama ahead by a single point, 47 to 46."

Rasmussen with leaners on 8/3: 47-45


Now, let's look at what you just said in the previous post.

"The media has NOT been reporting leaners when using Rasmussen. period."

You can keep repeating it, and it won't be true. (Unless you don't consider CBS News, the Miami Herald, or the Huffington Post part of the media.)

[samsingh]

20. good for you

[samsingh]

22. you're being polite - he's a piece of lying crap

[eleny]

23. I never realized it....

But one day, many years ago, I met an older gentleman through my work who asked me who I was voting for that year. I couldn't discuss politics on the job. But he went on anyway and said he was voting for Ronald Reagan because "he's going to win and you want to vote for the winner".

It never occurred to me that people decided that way. I'll never forget what he said. So the polls are important. And your letter to Abrams is excellent.

Rec'd.

[kurtboss]

26. Good work

Thanks

[Imagevision]

27. agreed, Abrahms keeps a story alive as long as he can, as he keeps asking about VP. Clinton

Corporate Media Whore? absolutely!

[Heather MC]

31. Dan Abrams is a puppet and has been for a long time

Remember that Hour long special he did on Rev Wright the weekend before the NC IN Primaries. That MSNBC played over and over about 5 times that weekend

That was day I lost all respect for him
and On Monday All he could do was mention that people were upset about his story, he didn't even read the letters he received.

I sent a letter Asking him if the money really worth it?

I watch his show sparatically now Only waiting for KO show to come on

[democrattotheend]

30. Sadly, the leaners number is probably more accurate

I work at an organization that commissions polling, and my boss, who knows something about the subject, said that the CW is that leaners are probably going to vote the way they are leaning and were just more hesitant to state their presidential preference the first time.

[PA Democrat]

32. My husband and I both end up getting angry when watching Abrams.

He has that panel where they rate which candidate "won" or "lost" the day, but the way they determine who "wins" is based upon who can best play the game of dirty politics. It's NOT about who has the best energy plan or who has the best health care plan, but rather who managed to smear their opponent more effectively, even if those smears are based upon complete lies.

That's why the average American has NO IDEA what a filthy corporate whore McCain is. His health care plan will end up costing the average American family MORE for health care, and at the same time it will shut more Americans out of health care altogether because of preexisting conditions.

That's why the average American has NO IDEA that his economic plan still espouses Phil Gramm-crafted deregulation of corporations that has resulted in fiascoes such as Enron, high gas prices, and the mortgage meltdown.

That's why the average American has NO IDEA how confused and misinformed McCain is on issues of vital importance, like the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, which countries border Pakistan, etc.

That's why the average American has NO IDEA how much John McCain has flip-flopped on issues to the point that I think he would be best suited for a career with the circus.

The coverage of politics has sunk to the level of a gossip tabloid. Issues critical to the lives of Americans and to the future of our country are largely ignored.

[ryanmuegge]

33. Fuck this stupid country. If McCain wins, we deserve to die.

After eight years of Bush, if a majority of this country votes for a Republican again, then we deserve everything we get.