| |
Mediamatters.Org -
In 2004, President Bush was re-elected
with 286 electoral votes, defeating Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) by 3.3 million votes
-- the smallest popular-vote margin since 1976 (excluding
the 2000 election) and the lowest electoral vote count for an incumbent
president's re-election
since Woodrow Wilson drew 277 electoral votes in 1916.
Nevertheless, many in the media were quick to echo Vice President Dick
Cheney's assertion that
"the nation" gave Bush "a mandate." It remains to be
seen whether the media will apply the same standard in assessing whether the
results of the 2008 election constitute "a mandate" for the
projected winner.
Among the many media outlets that declared Bush's
victory a "mandate" (identified by affiliations and titles
from 2004):
Paula Zahn,
CNN host: "A president with a mandate, a 10-seat majority in the Senate,
at least 25 seats in the House. So everything should be smooth sailing for
Republicans, right? Well, maybe not."
[CNN's Paula Zahn Now, 11/8/04]
Chicago Tribune editorial board: "In trying to
advance an ambitious second-term agenda, President Bush has made it clear he
intends to make every use he can of the assets at his disposal, starting with the
electoral mandate he got last week." [Chicago Tribune, "Memo to Bush: Just say
'no,' " 11/8/04]
John Roberts,
CBS News chief White House correspondent (now with CNN): "With the majority of
the popular vote behind him [Bush], with the Electoral College win, with a
mandate that perhaps many people didn't allow him to have in the first term,
can he afford to be more magnanimous with the press?" [CNN's Reliable Sources, 11/7/04]
Andy Serwer,
CNN host and Fortune magazine
editor-at-large: "Interesting time for the president, obviously, he [Bush]
seems to have a mandate from the people to go ahead and do what he wants to,
his bidding. Where do you think this is going to take him?" [CNN's In the Money, 11/7/04]
Christine Romans,
CNN anchor: "When I talk to Democrats and people who watch the Democratic
machine, they're furious that this was so close again and that now the
president has a mandate." [In the Money,
11/6/04]
Michele Kelemen,
National Public Radio diplomatic correspondent: "Others doubt President
Bush will change much given his election mandate and his strong convictions in
foreign policy." [NPR's
Weekend All Things Considered,
11/6/04]
Carol Costello,
CNN anchor and reporter: "To American politics now and the mandate.
President Bush is promising to use his election mandate to push his agenda
forward." [CNN Daybreak,
11/5/04]
Ceci Connolly, Washington Post staff writer: "Well, I
certainly think that there is a mandate [for Bush]. I think we have to go a
little bit careful in terms of what specifically it is a mandate for. I mean as
we've all agreed, a lot was discussed in this campaign. Interestingly, what you
heard President Bush focus on was tax reform, Social Security changes, partial
privatization. And continuing what he calls the war on terrorism." [Fox News' Special
Report with Brit Hume, 11/5/04]
David Sanger, New
York Times White House correspondent: "But Mr. Bush
no longer has to pretend that he possesses a clear electoral mandate. Because
for the first time in his presidency, he can argue that he has the real
thing." [The New York Times,
"Relaxed, Certainly, but Keeping One Eye on the Clock," 11/5/04]
Dan Chapman,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
global economics and business reporter: "Bush, buoyed by a popular mandate
and a more Republican Congress, will probably receive the financial and
military wherewithal to fight the insurgency and rebuild Iraq." [The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, "Bush gets voters' nod on Iraq, but outlook risky,"
11/4/04]
Keith Miller,
NBC News correspondent: "Bush, who won by more than three and a half
million votes, has a solid mandate that will force the attention of America's
enemies and allies." [NBC's
Nightly News, 11/3/04]
Rafael Lorente,
Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale, Florida) Washington bureau: "Americans not only
gave President Bush a mandate, they also gave him the necessary tools in the
form of more Republican House and Senate colleagues to push through his
conservative agenda." [Sun-Sentinel,
"Bush now has the tools to energize his priority programs," 11/4/04,
syndicated by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services]
Doyle McManus and
Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times
staff writers: "Four years ago, George W. Bush won his first term with
fewer votes than his opponent, but governed as if the nation had granted him a
clear mandate to pursue conservative policies. This time, Bush can claim a solid
mandate of 51% of the vote, which made him the first presidential candidate to
win a clear majority since 1988 -- a point Bush aides made repeatedly
Wednesday." [Los Angeles Times, "Majority Win Could Make
Second Term More Partisan," 11/4/04]
Tony Karon,
Time magazine columnist and senior
editor: "George W. Bush took the reins of power with the confidence and
certainty of one who had carried a landslide mandate to implement his own
agenda. This time, of course, his claim of a popular mandate is
incontrovertible. His party has strengthened its grip on both branches of the
legislature, and freed of any first-term restraints that might be thrown up by
reelection concerns, President George W. Bush is well positioned to even more
vigorously pursue his agenda." [Time,
"Victorious Bush Reaches Out," 11/3/04]
Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor: "My sense is that the
president will see this as a mandate on his policies, because the Republicans
also did very well in the House of Representatives, did very well in the U.S.
Senate, picking up seats in both. He gets over 50 percent, 51 percent. And he's
going to see this as a mandate in the next four years to try and move the
country in the direction he wants it to move. He will try to bring the country
together in the short term, but he's going to say, he's got a mandate from the
American people, and by all accounts he does." [CNN election coverage,
11/3/04]
Renee Montagne,
NPR host: "Well, as you say, the president's people are calling this a
mandate. By any definition I think you could call this a mandate. How will he
govern?" [Morning Edition,
11/3/04]
Chris Matthews,
MSNBC host: "Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews. And welcome to
MSNBC's post-election coverage live from Democracy
Plaza in New York's
Rockefeller Plaza. Yesterday voters went to the
polls and reelected President George Bush, giving him a mandate in his second
term." [MSNBC's Hardball with
Chris Matthews, 11/3/04]
Several conservative media figures and outlets also quickly
declared Bush's narrow victory a "mandate":
Wall
Street Journal editorial board:
"The voters did [decide the election] -- including millions of
conservative first-timers whom the exit polls and media missed -- emerging from
the pews and exurban driveways to give President Bush what by any measure is a
decisive mandate for a second term. ... Just because an election is close
doesn't mean it isn't decisive. ... ... that Mr. Bush has been given the kind
of mandate that few politicians are ever fortunate enough to receive." [Wall Street Journal editorial, "The
Bush Mandate," 11/4/04]
Bill Bennett,
conservative author and nationally syndicated radio host: "Having restored
decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy
that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His
supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and
electoral votes to see to it." [National Review Online, "The Great
Relearning," 11/3/04]
Then-CNN host Tucker Carlson:
"[N]obody has done it since 1988. The president wins reelection with a
majority of the vote. It is a mandate. What will he do with it now? [CNN's Crossfire, 11/3/04]
Peggy Noonan,
Wall Street Journal contributing
editor: "He [Bush] has, I would argue, a mandate now. You can bet he's
going forward boldly. He announced it today in his victory speech. He said,
'Honey, I'm not just going to lower your taxes. I am transforming the tax
system.' " [Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, 11/3/04]
Pat Buchanan,
MSNBC political analyst: "There's no doubt about it, this was a vote
against, by the red-state folks who gave the victory to George Bush, it was a
rejection of blue-state America.
It was a rejection of their values, their attacks on the president. ... And the
idea, it seems to me, that somehow the folks who won should now surrender part
of whatever mandate they have to the folks who lost -- I can tell you, what
we're hearing on this panel, people out there in red-state America are finding it very offensive."
[Hardball with Chris Matthews,
11/3/04]
William Kristol,
Weekly Standard executive editor:
"The hair-pullers and teeth-gnashers won't like it, of course, but we're
nevertheless inclined to call this a Mandate. Indeed, in one sense, we think it
an even larger and clearer mandate than those won in the landslide reelection
campaigns of Nixon in 1972, Reagan in 1984, and Clinton in 1996." [The Weekly Standard,
"Misunderestimated," 11/15/04 issue]
Media Matters - In 2008, will media recall 2004 declarations of Bush "mandate"? {...} President Bush was re-elected in 2004 with 286 electoral votes, the smallest popular-vote margin since 1976 (excluding the 2000 election) and the lowest electoral vote count for an incumbent president's re-election since 1916. Nevertheless, many in the media were quick to echo Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that "the nation" gave Bush "a mandate." It remains to be seen whether the media will apply the same standard in assessing the results of the 2008 election. {...} Published: November 5, 2008, 4:21 am - Indexed: November 5, 2008, 9:59 am - Page Size: 22KB |