The media rewriting of history has already begun

David Brock's organization, Media Matters, does a great job of showing how the "mainstream" media is already rewriting history with regards to last night's debate. Before the debate they were all talking about this being a crucial moment, a decisive moment, a moment that could make or break the entire election. From Wolf Blitzer, to Jeff Greenfield to Bill Schneider they all went hyperbolic. But now that they all agree that Kerry won, they're saying "heh, no big deal."

I'm already seeing similar things in other articles I'm reading. One newspaper, God only knows which one (I've read so many online) said that the debate was won only slightly by Kerry. The story then went on to report that its own polls showed Kerry the victor by over ten points! Slight winner, indeed.

The other, and perhaps, bigger danger is that we not let the media start proclaiming - which they already have - that the debate was a bust for Kerry because, sure it kept him in the race, but he got no significant "bounce" from it (sound familiar?) Remember how Kerry got "no" bounce from his convention, even though the average bounce was actually on the order of 5-6%, about the same bounce Bush got if not a bit more? Well, now they're saying "sure, our polls show Kerry won, but they don't show anybody changing their minds."

A few points on that:

1. It's too early to tell. It'll take a good several days for the debates to sink in. For people to go to work and hang out at the water cooler and start discussing the debate with their friends. Once that happens, their minds and their votes start changing.

2. More importantly, I don't expect Kerry to surge in the polls even though he kicked Bush's ass, and here's why. Yesterday, before the debate, the undecided voters, for the most part, didn't like Bush or Kerry. They also probably figured, like a lot of us feared (though we didn't admit it), that Kerry was likely toast and that Bush was going to probably win. Thus, their undecidedness also led to more than a bit of apathy. Their votes didn't count because the election was already decided. Last night that all changed.

Last night the undecideds realized two things. First, that Bush just might lose. And second, that Kerry wasn't as bad as they'd heard, and he was actually not bad at all. That means those undecideds are now looking with renewed interest at the candidates since they realize their vote now DOES matter, and they realize that it may actually not be a choice between the lesser of two evils.

Does that mean the undecideds are ready to sign up for the Kerry campaign? I doubt it. They only just realized this was still a real race. But it does mean that they're now giving Kerry a serious second look.

Don't buy the media's BS, which may come to a head this weekend, about the first debate not helping Kerry because he didn't surge 10 points (though I still think we'll see a bump soon). That debate just made this a whole new ball game. All Kerry has to do is look presidential in one or two more debates, and he has Bush beat.