Don't Buy the Spin

As Kerry prepares to concede in moments, here we go with all of the expected spin:

1. It's still a divided country.

Bush won by at least 3.5 million votes, that doesn't seem very divided.

2. He won't have a mandate this time either.

With the number of Senate seats picked up by the GOP there's no doubt Bush got a mandate.

3. Once the Democrats lick their wounds they will come back stronger than ever in four years.

It's up to them to figure out why they are so unpopular.

4. Watch out for Hillary in four years.

We'll deal with it when we get there.


It was amazing to watch CNN very early in the morning, refusing to call any of the states for Bush where he was clearly a winner. Judy Woodruff looked almost panicked when Bush suddenly moved from being up 4000 votes in New Mexico to 11000. She had the staff searching for answers.

As I watched various anchors across the networks, the stubbornness and reluctance to call anything for Bush was downright funny. Bush ahead by 140,000 votes was "too close to call" but Kerry up by far less in another state gave it to him in lock.

One really got the sense that the news media was ready to lead the way for whatever Kerry wanted to argue in the coming weeks.