Annoy the Media: Go Vote And the "Common Sense Effect"

Annoy the Media: Go Vote
And the "Common Sense Effect"

by Newt Gingrich
Posted 11/04/2008 ET
Updated 11/04/2008 ET

Special note: On this day of great consequence for our republic, our thoughts and prayers go out to Senator Obama, whose grandmother passed away yesterday in Hawaii. Presidential politics is a serious undertaking, and our differences are real, but the pain we feel from the loss of loved one is a burden we all share. May Senator Obama and his family find peace and condolence in this difficult time.


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Today marks the end of one of the most dishonest, relentlessly one-sided campaigns of bias and distortion by the mainstream media in American history.

The latest tactic in this elite media campaign has been to declare the presidential race over in an effort to discourage some voters from going to the polls. After all, if Barack Obama has already won, why should supporters of John McCain even bother to vote?

But this election won’t be decided by Keith Olbermann, or CNN, or the New York Times.

It will be decided by you.

So annoy the mainstream media. Remember 2000. Remember how close it was. Remember how every single vote counted.

Go out and vote. Now.

The Bradley Effect vs. The Common Sense Effect

The same biased media that has declared the presidential race over has also (just to be sure) come up with a rationalization in the event that their candidate loses.

They call it the Bradley Effect, after the former Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley’s unsuccessful bid to be governor of California in 1982.

A late election poll had Bradley, an African-American, ahead, but he went on to lose the election. His supporters and others in the media blamed his loss on the so-called Bradley Effect: the supposed tendency of voters to tell pollsters they are voting for a minority when, in fact, they refuse to once they get in the voting booth.

The Bradley Effect has been widely discredited (see here and here).

But that hasn’t stopped Obama partisans in the media from assuring us that the only way Senator Obama can lose is through the Bradley Effect. In other words, the only thing that could explain an Obama loss is the fact that America is a society of closet racists.

Our Choice Today Doesn’t Have Anything to Do With Race

But I have another theory to describe the choice Americans face in this election -- call it the Common Sense Effect.

The choice we face today doesn’t have anything to do with race. It has to do with which candidate believes in wealth creation and which one believes in wealth redistribution.

Which candidate believes in limited, effective government, and which candidate believes in unrestrained, liberal, big government.

Which candidate believes that the hard work and ingenuity of incentivized Americans can solve our energy needs, and which candidate believes that government taxation, regulation and litigation is the way to go.

It’s critical that this point be made now, before the results are in: If Senator Obama loses the election today, it won’t have anything to do with the so-called Bradley Effect. It will have everything to do with the Common Sense Effect.

Senator Obama in His Own Words: “If Someone Wants to Build a Coal Power Plant ….It Will Bankrupt Them”

But don’t take my word for it. Take Senator Obama’s word for it.

Consider the choice that faces us today on the issue of America’s energy independence. And consider Senator Obama’s recently uncovered statements about how he would solve this problem.

As my new book Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less and my new film, “We Have the Power” (buy it here) point out, America is the Saudi Arabia of coal. We have vast, untapped coal resources, and clean coal technology will allow us to use those resources to stop sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy oil from countries that hate us.

But listen to what Senator Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle in January about America’s coal industry:

"If somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it's just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

Senator Obama in His Own Words: “Under My Plan…Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket”

In the same interview, Senator Obama went on to say:

“Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket…even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas…you name it…whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations. That will cost money…they will pass that money on to the consumers."

When Obama Arrogantly Talks About Bankrupting the Coal Industry, He’s Talking About Bankrupting Whole Communities

Senator Obama’s idea of solving our energy problems seems to be to inflict pain upon American consumers -- and to pronounce a death sentence on American producers of coal in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

When Senator Obama off-handedly and arrogantly talks about bankrupting the coal industry, he’s talking about bankrupting entire communities; shutting down the industry that produces the jobs and the tax revenue that fund schools, hospitals and roads.

These are Senator Obama’s own words, spoken 10 months ago to the mainstream media but only now being heard thanks to the work of independent bloggers.

This is the choice we face today.

We Don’t Know Which Candidate Will Win, But We Know the Mainstream Media Has Already Lost

I began my message to you today noting that coverage of this election has been among the most dishonest and one-sided by the mainstream media in American history.

We don’t yet know which candidate won the election, but we do know this: The mainstream media lost.

The examples of bias and distortion that have occurred are too numerous to list here.

Suffice to say that when a supposedly unbiased media organization polls its staffers, and the vote is 55 to 1, something is deeply wrong.

When honest reporters are embarrassed to admit that they’re journalists, something is wrong.

When the nonpartisan Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that negative articles about John McCain outweigh positive pieces by four-to-one, and positive pieces about Barack Obama outweigh negative pieces by two-to-one, something is deeply wrong.

Going forward, center-right and conservative Americans will have to work even harder to reclaim the media and to create new ways to communicate with our fellow Americans that bypass the mainstream media. We’ve already had some significant successes, including this newsletter. I thank you for the ideas, energy and optimism you have shared with me through these messages for the past two and a half years.

Regardless of who wins tonight, I’m sure you share my belief that we will honor our political process, respect our new leaders, and move forward with the cheerful persistence that Ronald Reagan taught us.

But for now, grab a friend -- grab a couple friends -- and go out and vote.

Your friend,


Newt Gingrich



P.S. If you’re still not convinced of the need to go out and vote, consider this: Amid reports of homeless people being able to list park benches as addresses in order to cast ballots, there are reports that many of our men and women serving overseas are having problems casting absentee ballots. Go to the polls today for those who fight but can’t vote.

P.P.S. Last Friday I discussed my new book, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less, at the American Enterprise Institute, where I detailed a three-pronged approach to creating a responsible energy policy. First we have to maximize our domestic supply of all energy sources. Then we need to adopt an “across the board” strategy to encourage efficiency and innovation. Finally, we have to incentivize technological breakthroughs with prizes and tax credits.

As Senator Obama’s comments on coal illustrate, current elites in Congress have an ideological imperative to increase the cost of energy. But only with a responsible, pro-growth model will we be able to weather the current financial storm and promote energy independence, all while decreasing the cost of energy for all Americans.

American Solutions Update

A Message from American Solutions’ Chief Advocate, Princella Smith.

V-O-T-E. You must vote. America is facing one of the most critical times in its history, and in a race where the two contenders could not be more different in terms of policy, the choice is crucial

American Solutions had a great presence on the air last week. FOX News invited me to appear on “Your World with Neil Cavuto”, and NPR featured me as a guest on “News and Notes.” With each appearance, I held true to the principles we advocate at American Solutions: ISSUES. At the end of this election cycle, the defining aspect of each campaign whether local, statewide, or national, will be the ISSUES.

CNN Headline News has invited me for both Election Day and post-election analysis from the American Solutions perspective on November 4th and 5th. On election night, I will join the CBN team on the 700 Club. Rest assured that through each of these appearances, American Solutions will seize the opportunity to make sure that YOUR voice is heard.

To get e-mail notifications of American Solutions media appearances, contact American Solutions: info@americansolutions.com .

Stay tuned to www.americansolutions.com and visit our blog for updates from the American Solutions team.

-HAVE YOU SIGNED? Join the Drill Here, Drill Now Pay Less Campaign, and get involved with the entire movement for the Platform of the American People! Contact: Princella Smith at info@americansolutions.com


Mr. Gingrich is the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and author of "Winning the Future" (published by Regnery, a HUMAN EVENTS sister company).