Russert suggested GOP "demonstrate[d] that the Dems were out of.....

[rodeodance]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200606050006



Mon, Jun 5, 2006 4:06pm EST


Russert suggested GOP successfully "demonstrate that the Democrats were out of sync" on "values"

Summary: On NBC's Meet the Press, host Tim Russert, during an interview with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE), asked Biden if same-sex marriage was one of the issues "that the Republicans used successfully to demonstrate that the Democrats were out of sync on cultural -- and values." But leading up to the 2004 election, polls found that the public was split equally on which party better represented their values, and more recent polling indicates that more people think Democrats better represent their values than do Republicans.

On the June 4 broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press, host Tim Russert, during an interview with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE), asked Biden if same-sex marriage was one of the issues "that the Republicans used successfully to demonstrate that the Democrats were out of sync on cultural -- and values." Russert's question was prompted by President Bush's recent statements in favor of a federal constitutional amendment barring gay marriage and the fact that the Senate is taking up the amendment this week. However, although few national public polls asked specifically about the issue of "values" in the months leading up to the 2004 election, polls that did so found that the public was split equally on which party better represented their values. More recent polling indicates that more people think Democrats better represent their values than do Republicans.

A June 20-23, 2004, George Washington University Battleground Poll poll conducted by Lake Snell Perry and Associates, a Democratic polling firm, and the Tarrance Group, a Republican firm, found that 49 percent of respondents thought Democrats "would do a better job" of "haring your values," while 46 percent though Republicans would. A July 11-15, 2004, CBS News/New York Times poll found that 46 percent thought Republicans came "closer to sharing your moral values," while 45 percent thought Democrats came closer. A September 3-5, 2004, CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that 49 percent thought the Democratic Party "better represents your values," while 45 percent thought Republicans did. Each poll had a +/- 3 percent margin of error.........


....Contact information:

Tim Russert
[e-mail]

NBC
NBC News
NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112

Meet the Press
E-mail: [e-mail]
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[Mythsaje]

1. Yes, we're out of touch with the wackos' so-called "values."

We have our own. They can keep theirs.

[rodeodance]

2. my quick message to them.

with good reason Media Matters now covers Tim R. almost as much as Hannity and O'Lielly!

[racaulk]

3. Was the strikethrough font in your post intentional? eom

[WI_DEM]

4. you mean values as a small percentage of fundies see them?

or values which involves inclusion for all? I wonder how Biden responded.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Is Russert totally insane or just kidding?

[Lexingtonian]

6. Hmmm.

rodeodance, you may want to remove that bracketed 's' and replace it with parentheses....

A nice leading question by Potatohead, but I don't know whether it's so egregiously off. In 2004 national opinion was different.

Now, of course, legalization of gay marriage is the one last "cultural" issue on which bigotsconservatives still have a majority their way. And that majority is now also starting to yield way, despite its numbers, as it largely has on capital punishment.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Everyone knows

there are only two issues that really matter
(regardless of whether you're rep or dem)
- Bush's failed economic policy
- Bush's failed Iraq policy

All the rest... immigration, gay marriage, (non)intelligent design, etc...
are just more republican blather and bullshit. They have already lost.
What numbskulls.

[Cocoa]

8. my two-time Bush-voting boss is dropping the GOP over gay marriage

we talk politics once in a while, he mentioned a couple of weeks ago he'd had it with the GOP. I was surprised and even more surprised when he answered my question as to why. I expected it was about Iraq or immigration or something, but he said it was about intolerance of gays and some other issue of intolerance I forget what. Not abortion, something else.

I was kind of surprised since it was before Bush's new push on gay marriage and gay marriage wasn't in the news. But it makes sense when I think about it. I'm hoping there are a lot of republicans out there who never liked the GOP's intolerant side, but stuck with them because of illusions about the GOP being better on the economy or national security. And now they're disillusioned and boy do I hope they're disilluioned big time.