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Buoyed by their use of the worm to
manipulate public
opinion in the 2003 federal election, Channel 9 has repeated the stunt
during the broadcast of the leaders debate last Sunday evening.
Channel 9 again used their chief bleeding heart
commentator, Ray Martin, to run this charade. Martin and Channel 9 brought
together a so-called "uncommitted" audience of 90 voters, arming
them
with remote control voting devices to score the progress of the debate.
It was immediately apparent that the audience was biased
in favour of Opposition leader Kevin Rudd. No sooner did Rudd draw breath to
begin speaking than the arrow began racing upward. On the other hand, as soon as Prime Minister Howard
began speaking, the arrow began heading downward.
This pattern was repeated for the 90 minutes of the
debate.
At the conclusion of the debate, Martin could hardly
contain himself as he supported the worm's manipulation. He gleefully announced
that the worm had scored Rudd the winner by a massive margin of 65 per
cent to 29 per cent with 6 per cent undecided. Uncommitted voters. Give us a break!.
A poll of 69,000 Channel 9 viewers voted Howard as the
winner. Polls by Sun Herald and Sky News produced similar winning results for Howard.
There is no doubt the worm plays a not insignificant role in
political perceptions, and hence votes. Voters with a herd mentality may well
vote for Rudd, based on the worm's contortions.
In my view, Howard won the debate mainly because he was
more sincere and forceful than Rudd, who reminds me of a talking parrot, trained
to repeat phrases such as "working families", "new
leadership" and "education revolution". Rudd came across as glib
and lacking substance. He was visibly sweating, and when the camera focused on a
side view of the podium, Rudd's knees appeared to be trembling.
Next time you see Rudd on TV, start counting the
seconds until he says "working families".
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