"It's an amazing media error, a huge blunder. I'm sure the bush .

[LynnTheDem]

administration is thrilled by this spin."

Iraq's "Election"

The percentage of turnout supplied by Ayar came to 57% (happily rounded off by the press to 60%). This was based on what was described as 14 million potential voters divided by those 8 million who braved the potential bullets and bombs to go to the polls.
On Sunday, while hailing the millions going to the polls, I also raised questions about the 14 million eligible figure: was that registered voters, or all adults over 18, or what? Few on TV or in print seem to be quite sure, to this day.

It's a big difference. Since Sunday, countless TV talking heads, such as Chris Matthews, and print pundits have compared the Iraq turnout favorably to U.S. national elections, not seeming to understand that 80%-90% of our registered voters usually turn out. The problem in our country is that so few people bother to register, bringing our overall turnout numbers way down.

Howard Kurtz at least looked into the Iraqi numbers. In a Tuesday column, he observed that "the 14 million figure is the number of registered Iraqis, while turnout is usually calculated using the number of eligible voters. The number of adults in Iraq is probably closer to 18 million," which would lower the turnout figure to 45% (if, indeed, the 8 million number holds up).

"Election officials concede they did not have a reliable baseline on which to calculate turnout," Kurtz concluded. He also quoted Democratic strategist Robert Weiner as saying: "It's an amazing media error, a huge blunder. I'm sure the Bush administration is thrilled by this spin."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000788083

Well, hey, can't be blaming the US State Media for making huge blunders that spin for bush. After all, that's what they're there for.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Suprisingly Kurtz told the truth for once.

[Pam-Moby]

2. What they fail to put in the mix

is all of the Sunni political groups that boycotted the election and the Sunni's that did not vote because of facing death if they did. But we knew that they would bend the numbers to make it look good for B*sh!!!

[KharmaTrain]

3. It's All A Shell Game

Without real control over the entire country, how can one estimate how many "eligible voters" there are? There hasn't been a census and I'm certain all the Saddam-era records have been destroyed. So where did these numbers come from?

Also there was no real international monitoring or verification. How do we know that many people went to the polls? Our media lapdogs only venture outside their cozy hotels when they're embedded with a military unit, thus all those wacky Iraqi's "raising the roof".

The contrast in international coverage of that election...even the outcome and the propaganda in the American lapdog media were glaring. The "plaudits" I heard from the BBC and CBC was more relief that hundreds weren't killed and an amazement the election actually went off. Not quite a ringing endorsement for democracy.

I wonder what the next spin this regime will try. They're running out of tricks to pull.

[Oversea Visitor]

4. But its the American way

2000 Al Gore.... Fox say bush win haha even though he didnt

2004 What went BUMP in the night?

Freedom and Liberty as dictated by the Media hahahaha.

[Stirk]

5. That was no media "error".

The media were very willingly played like violins again. The Bush Administration had a major propaganda push timed to coincide with the Iraqi elections.

I heard a report on the BBC about the Iraqi elections. They said that there were many jibilant voters outside their Baghdad offices, but if you left the immediate area, that wasn't the case. They seemed to be suggesting a bit of coordinated media-spinning was going on. Reminds me of all the photos of happy Iraqis in Time magazine just after the invasion... people who later turned out to be Chalabi's "exiles".

Anyway, the BBC noticed this. Our own media anxiously lines up to participate in these government charades.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. Maybe Bush & Company sent the Iraqis to the foreign press offices...

to get the propaganda out on the international level?!?

[Stirk]

7. That's what it seemed like to me.

Reading between the lines, of course. It reminded me of that whole Hussein statue thing, where you could see it was all a fraud if you only pulled the camera's view out. Of course, our media didn't bother doing that.