October 23, 2012

"VIDEO: Romney Wins CBS Focus Group In Ohio..."

Drudge links us to this:



The silent sadness of the CBS newswoman's face at 0:29... hilarious. So funny that these newsfolk don't activate actorly skills to project the appearance of professionalism and neutrality.

84 comments:

Tim said...

#AnotherObamaFail

#LikeabilityLie

#SecondTermNothingbutSnark

Texan99 said...

Even funnier was Soledad O'Brien discovering that most of her group had changed their votes, then refusing to ask them to whom, on the theory that their votes were private (in an election focus group!). La la la la la!

Tim said...

#AHorse,AHorse,MyAdministrationforaHorse

AF said...

Anecdotes >>> data

Sorun said...

I wonder which of The Five Stages of Grief Charlie Rose is in right now.

test said...

The silent sadness of the CBS newswoman's face at 0:29... hilarious.

She looked ready to cry. Apparently reality is starting to become apparent even to those trying to cover it up. It's going to be a great couple of months.

theribbonguy said...

But..but..but their instant poll said golfpants won by a 2-1 margin.

BWAHAHAHAHAH

Christopher in MA said...

So funny that these newsfolk don't activate actorly skills to project the appearance of professionalism and neutrality.

When your entire worldview is based on the premise that anyone right of Stalin is a knuckle-dragging, Bible-thumping, sister-humping NASCAR yahoo, even the talents of an Olivier couldn't help you.

Alcibiades said...

Ugh, that's Norah O'Donnell, such a simpleton. She got her start being a news toady at MSNBC, working for Chris Mathews and such. He, obviously, used to think she was hot, plus, Irish, so he was happy. It's amazing how these people advance through the ranks, just for showing up and mouthing the progressive storyline.

Anonymous said...

Boy, looked like their bestest friend had just been death panelled off.

YoungHegelian said...

The Ohio focus group looks to be a nicer group of folks than Frank Luntz's group from Florida was on Fox last night.

That group had a couple of loud mouths and definite plants from both the Obama & Romney camp. I mean, either some of those people really didn't understand what the word "undecided" meant or they forgot the lesson from little George W. & chopping down the cherry tree.

edutcher said...

Dean Reynolds didn't sound happy, either.

I love the smell of schaudenfreude in the morning.

Scott M said...

Hysterical.

David said...

The talking heads can't quite believe it. The voters, on the other hand, and friendly and jovial with each other, even though they vote differently.

Dark Eden said...

Those reporters looked about ready to cry. I guess when you completely abandon your reputations for someone and still lose, that's a natural reaction.

Levi Starks said...

"We gave them a script to memorize, did they not even read it?"

ricpic said...

The "newswoman" is actually a pretty face and a newsreader. What does she know? She knows that everyone who is anyone at CBS is in agreement as to who the good guys are and she's in agreement with them. She doesn't really have to know anything beyond that. Including knowing when to cover the bias -which isn't bias to her-up. So she doesn't. It's the thinking of her as a newswoman that's leads to the overestimation of what she should have done: act professional.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The silent sadness of the CBS newswoman's face at 0:29... hilarious

She just is coming to the realization that her fantasy boyfriend, is really a jerk, lied to her, cheated on her and none of her friends can stand him. Now she has to face the fact that she is a dupe. Or....just double down on stupid. I think that she is going to pick the second.

Marshall Rose said...

I think my favorite moment in television history was the morning after the presidential election in 2004.

Poor Katie Couric went to bed thinking that John Kerry had beaten George Bush. The look on her face on the Today show the next morning when she had to report the fact that Bush had won will forever be a treasured memory for me. She looked like she was trying to pass a watermelon.

I wish I could find the video of that.

Tim said...

#ObamaMediaButtHurt

#PTBarnumWasRight

F^cking losers.

They move heaven and earth to push and prop up their failed affirmative action president, and once the American people figure out he's nothing but a failure, they're shocked?

I think the believe their own lies.

The worst lies are the ones you tell yourself.

Emil Blatz said...

I'm seeing the essence of a Christopher Guest movie. Only question is: will Fred Willard be back as the reporter/host/moderator/inquisitor of the focus group?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I have changed my mind about Romney's strategery of not hitting Obama hard on Benghazi..

Its the same theory as to why Obama didn't hit Romney hard on the 47% in the first debate..

Why give Obama a chance to explain his way out the mess?

Curious George said...

Not optimal.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Oh, I see the previous tread has it.

Patrick said...

UNINSTALLING OBAMA.....……………. █████████████▒▒▒ 90% complete.

BarrySanders20 said...

Nothing will ever compare to Katie Couric's crestfallen face when her network announced for W in 2004. I think her chin was quivering like a three year old who realized she didn't get what she wanted for her birthday when Dan Rather called Ohio for W.

I'd link it, but 1) can't because I don't know how, and 2) it seems to have been scrubbed off the intertubes.

It is a memory that is seared -- seared -- into my consciousness because I was a-hootin' and a-hollerin' when it happened.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

@ Patrick

LOL. 90% complete....ha ha ha ha! That made my day.

Known Unknown said...

Hey they don't call Steubenville Stupidville for nothing, amirite?!?!

kcom said...

Do you think that was the moment she realized for the very first time that Obama was on the path to defeat? That her wall of denial cracked right there at the end of the clip before the camera came back to her?

bagoh20 said...

Why are 100% of the Obama choosers there women? If it wasn't for the smart women I read on here, I'd have to go gay for my own self respect.

Anonymous said...

I was going to mention Katie Couric, too, and two others already have!

If I recall correctly, I think she wore black the next day.

Meade said...

@ Patrick

LOL. 90% complete....ha ha ha ha! That made my day.

Mine too.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ugh, that's Norah O'Donnell..."

I would have used her name if I knew it. I didn't recognize her. Just another network news lady, not distinctive enough to connect to a name, and there was no name on screen.

PatCA said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kcom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

Obama thought his likability was like that bottle of wine in Miracle on 34th street, that never got empty whatever you drank from it.

So his die hard base still loves him, the rest of the country? Well, he kind of squandered that bit.

Anonymous said...

If the MSM come to believe that Romney will win, do you think they will begin to cover him more favorably, just to suck up for after the election?

kcom said...

For those interested, here's a link to the full 3 minute segment on the focus group from which that clip came.

PatCA said...

They look like they were just told their puppy died!

X said...

Nothing will ever compare to Katie Couric's crestfallen face when her network announced for W in 2004.

My favorite was Rachel Maddow calling the Wisconsin recall 45 minutes after the polls closed. She looked like she had a load in her pants. Ed Schultz of course, did.

furious_a said...

The silent sadness of the CBS newswoman's face at 0:29... hilarious.

Just imagine the look on Ms. O'Donnell's face at 07:00:01 A.M. CT on Nov 7, 2012. I'm setting my DVR.

Anonymous said...

Ahh good old Norah O' Brien, I remember her near tears, blinking them back even when Bush v. Gore was decided. Poor thing.

I love how the commentator says there is still time to change their votes!

But wait the FLOTUS said yesterday to vote early because our toilets could overflow on election day.

furious_a said...

Nothing will ever compare to Katie Couric's crestfallen face when her network announced for W in 2004.

My favorite was Rachel Maddow calling the Wisconsin recall 45 minutes after the polls closed. She looked like she had a load in her pants. Ed Schultz of course, did.


My personal favorite was the crestfallen tone of NPR's newsreaders (complete with pauses to compose themselves) calling the Republican legislative sweep in 1994.

Calypso Facto said...

UNINSTALLING OBAMA

Haha.

Complete with Facebook page (and some other good pics) for the Facebookers among you:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/393242064080540/?fref=ts

Known Unknown said...

Just imagine the look on Ms. O'Donnell's face at 07:00:01 A.M. CT on Nov 7, 2012. I'm setting my DVR.

I thought you were talking about Crazy Larry.

TIM CARROLL said...

What is interesting about this focus group was that Jefferson County (Steubenville) went heavily for Obama in 08, but, this is also coal and steel country and Obama is not doing so well down there. Anecdotally, there are a lot of yard signs that say Stop the War on Coal. If Romney can flip the border counties to the south, it could be a long night for Obama.

campy said...

My personal favorite was the crestfallen tone of NPR's newsreaders (complete with pauses to compose themselves) calling the Republican legislative sweep in 1994.

You should have heard them report Reagan's 2 wins.

Sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

furious_a said...

My favorite was Rachel Maddow calling the Wisconsin recall 45 minutes after the polls closed. She looked like she had a load in her pants. Ed Schultz of course, did.

Reprising the sweet, sweet taste of the collapse of MSNBC's talking points, the incredulous demeanors of the on-air talent, and the desperate rationalizing of a pony in the manure-pile they'd been spinning.

Good times, good times...

DADvocate said...

Reminds me of when Bill Clinton beat George H. Cokie Roberts was smiling so big I thought her face would crack. As I had voted Libertarian, I had no horse in the race, but I wasn't blind to the obvious bias.

RonF said...

In their world - in the group of people they socialize with, have in their families, work with, talk to, read for information, etc. - there are no Republicans. There are no Tea Party Movement sympathizers. There are very few people who go to church, or own guns, or have served in the military. And all the information they have about those groups comes filtered, tagged in such a fashion that they figure all such people are "low-information voters", uneducated, unable to really understand what's in their own self interests, and frankly in the minority and uninfluential.

Then something like this happens to crack that facade and let reality leak in. They can't process.

My prediction for headlines on Nov. 7th:

If Obama wins, "Approval of Obama policies and agenda caused the win."

If Romney wins, "Racism and ignorance defeated Obama."

In no way will the MSM publish "Approval of Romney policies and agenda caused the win" or "Rejection of Obama policies and agenda caused his loss."

furious_a said...

I thought you were talking about Crazy Larry.

Larry O'Donnell, OTOH, will go batsh*t crazy.

wildswan said...

I believe all these debates show Romney as more adept than Obama. In the first debate Romney prepared and then knocked Obama about the stage. So in the next ones Obama became increasingly aggressive trying to get the momentum back. He tries harder and harder to do what Romney did (as if). But see, Romney doesn't just repeat his successful effects (which I would have loved to see - but doing it wouldn't have been smart - that's what the debate team began to prep Obama for), Romney innovates, he leads. By the third debate Obama is crouched in his seat,his eyes fixed on Romney, coiled like a snake, watching for chances to attack. Romney sits back and watches Obama flail at him for awhile and then all he says is "attacking Mitt Romney is not an agenda." Which answers pretty much everything Obama had to say and returns the issue to the fate of the country. So do we want someone who is lead around in his reactions like Obama or do we want a leader?

Bryan C said...

Look! The mere mention of Romney's name drives women to tears. War on women!

RonF said...

Oh, and I forgot - Citizens United if Romney wins, but no mention of the big money behind Obama if he wins.

sane_voter said...

Looked like Norah had something distasteful in her mouth that she was trying to swallow.

Curious George said...

X said...
My favorite was Rachel Maddow calling the Wisconsin recall 45 minutes after the polls closed. She looked like she had a load in her pants."

No, she looked like she ate a bad clam. Who knows, maybe she did.

Chip Ahoy said...

My inner self told me not to listen and I obeyed. Bought extra remotes just for that and through five years bought three more remotes when Comcast changed, five actually because I had problems with two they're quite cheap. But still. Batteries and such for five years just to make sure I didn't hear a full sentence when everything I had on insisted I'd have at least 20 or so Obama doses a day. The hundreds of videos I refused to watch to protect my speakers and my eardrums from shattering sibilant Ss and the pure annoyance of catchphrase politics. So through these 3 debates I broke that longstanding rule and listened more than I have in 5 years previous and I'm so sorry I did. My inner self was right all along. It was a grave mistake to listen to him half way through these debates, and even worse having him on mute and paying attention to his gesticulations which are like icepicks in my eyeballs which look to hand movements to make sense even in children, but not with him, it's all pure 100% pedantic monotonous low range sign language.

Once I saw a baby in the arms of a woman across the street and three floors down through bulletproof glass wave bye-bye and heard the sound of a child's voice in my head say clear as a bell, "bob" because that's how she waved and my brain supplied the sound for it. But there is no sound that goes with pedantic monotonous low range sign language. It's utterly meaningless.

Unknown said...

Drudge also had a nice Drudgetaposition today: Obama looking up, above him a Romney ad. With each refresh another Romney ad: "A clear Choice."

screenshot:
https://twitter.com/AustinGHart/status/260782063706337280

Jeff H said...

The reason lame-streamers are so despondent is that, once Romney is sworn in, they'll have to start actually WORKING again-digging up dirt, writing smear pieces, thinking up ways to make someone look bad. For 4 years it's been nothing but cotton candy [sorry, is using the word "cotton" considered "racist"?], unicorns and meth.

Freeman Hunt said...

Heh. Somebody hand that poor woman a tissue.

Remember when Scott Brown won and Maddow cried on air?

Vote for Romney because a Romney win will make for much more entertaining newscasts!

Christy said...

Thank you, Althouse and commentors, for cheering me up immeasurably.

Chip, Darling, you're channeling the Hybrids from Battlestar Galactica this morning.

Pragmatist said...

Looking at that group and I am so filled with optimism about the future of America. All along, the answers were right in front of our noses! Why waste time with the Federal Reserve, Geitner and and the rest of the egg head elitists. Ask a bunch of "regular folks", they can fix washington in no time at all.

Dark Eden said...

Jeff H said... sorry, is using the word "cotton" considered "racist"?

Being alive is considered racist if you aren't a Democrat.

jungatheart said...

My favorite is Norah O'Donnell after the Palin convention speech. She was livid, with bright red spots on her cheeks.

Some Seppo said...

Ah the lamentation of their women. Leftists are so backwards. They are supposed to wait for the crushing and driving first.

Kansas City said...

This is the most hilarious indictment of the liberal media I have ever seen. I have no idea who the woman is, but she looked like she was about to cry. She even had to swallow before she started talking. And Charley Rose seemed in a state of sad shock. This goes into the liberal media hall of fame. It is a simple story - Romney wins focus group - that stuns and saddens the media. Again, hilarious.

Christopher in MA said...

Looking at that group and I am so filled with optimism about the future of America. All along, the answers were right in front of our noses! Why waste time with the Federal Reserve, Geitner and and the rest of the egg head elitists. Ask a bunch of "regular folks", they can fix washington in no time at all.

Since Geithner is too ignorant to fill out his own taxes correctly, Pragmatist, why should we waste time with him?

But keep whistling past that graveyard.

Mimi said...

What was really funny was when Norah tried to totally dismiss the conclusion of the focus group by a) not asking who they were now in favor of (though it was obvious) and b) ending with a statement about there being 'two weeks to go for them to make up their mind - as if the discussion/vote of the group hadn't taken place. Desperate. But transparent.

Kansas City said...

While I love the result her, I find these TV focus groups to be nonsence. The idea that 16 or 32 person in a television studio can accurately reflect millions of voters is ridiculouos. Particularly when the moderator asks questions and it is just a matter of who is enough of a loud mouth to shot out an answer on TV. I understand that focus groups can be valuable to test specific political messages, but this idea of judging a 90 minute debate with a couple question in a studio is stupid.

Seeing Red said...

--Jeff H said... sorry, is using the word "cotton" considered "racist"?

Being alive is considered racist if you aren't a Democrat.--

Also a climate denier.

gerry said...

Looked like Norah had something distasteful in her mouth that she was trying to swallow.

Was she alone with Bill Clinton in the green room for three minutes?

Seeing Red said...

-- it could be a long night for Obama.--

Short night, he needs his beauty sleep.


You haven't seen the miner ad from the Ohio miners?

Absolute lies. It's good.

BarrySanders20 said...

I think these focus groups do have outsized influence because some percentage of people watching are still undecided and they want to know what other (allegedly) like-minded undecideds think, perhaps for confirmation of what they already think, or perhaps to just go along with the preference cascade.

When you talk to juries, you focus on the few leaders who will bring the followers along with them in the jury room. But most verdicts require unanimity, unlike an election. Many of the undecideds (certainly not Althouse?) just want to know that others are thinking they same thing before they commit.

Teri said...

My boyfriend likes to watch CBS Morning. Anytime there's new that could be favorable for Obama, Norah is "sparkly eyed". She's just so happy and chipper. She talked to Paul Ryan this morning and you would have thought that she'd sucked on a lemon. Her biases are so obvious.

Penny said...

"But there is no sound that goes with pedantic monotonous low range sign language. It's utterly meaningless."

Au contraire mon ami, Chip Ahoy.

Our President suffers from Magic Eraser hand. :(

Penny said...

So does THIS Drudge headliner!

furious_a said...

Why waste time with the Federal Reserve, Geitner and and the rest of the egg head elitists.

First 50 names in the Boston Phone Book: 1
Harvard Faculty: 0.

ssquared said...

Charley Rose looked like he just found out his son got a DWI.

Unknown said...

O'Donnell gave Obama a memorable softball question from the front row of the WH press room: http://republicanredefined.com/2012/03/06/president-obama-to-mitt-romney-good-luck-tonight-video/

AllenS said...

Charley Rose looked like he just found out his son was gay.

ken in tx said...

I remember NPR's newsreaders being ecstatic when Clinton won his first election. You could see them in your head jumping around, clapping their hands, and spiking the ball. A real happy dance. It was obvious in their voices.

ken in tx said...

Don't get cocky kid.

Lawyer Mom said...

Her expression looked like revulsion and pity towards the pedestrians, if you ask me.

I once met Ms. O'Donnell at an airport when we were printing our boarding passes at adjoining kiosks. I asked her, nicely, why she seemed viscerally disgusted by Sarah Palin whenever she talked about her on the air. She acted surprised by my question and (nicely, with great poise) said she had no bias at all.

To her credit, she is even more stunning in person -- a total knock-out. And she kindly helped me print my boarding pass. The reasons I couldn't do it myself would be TMI. Suffice it to say, Scott Brown had just won MA the night before.

Tarzan said...

"Interesting", says the wizened gray TVNewsPundit.

No warm smilies from the newsPeople for Mitt.

Just, 'Interesting'!