Cokie hokum: Roberts falsely claimed Kerry was "kind of by himself" after second debate

On ABC's This Week, NPR senior news analyst and ABC political contributor Cokie Roberts lauded President George W. Bush's affability, saying, "if George Bush could go around the country and meet 290 million Americans, he could win" the November presidential election. Roberts supported her assertion by claiming that, after the second presidential debate, "the people who had asked the questions all gathered around George Bush, and Kerry was kind of by himself over here." But as video footage from just after the debate shows, Roberts's claim that "Kerry was kind of by himself over here" is inaccurate; audience members crowded around both candidates.

From the October 10 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

STEPHANOPOULOS: [O]n TV, it seemed like President Bush was shouting at the beginning.

ROBERTS: And, and that's, I think that's probably why, because there were people up there that he was probably trying to reach, and, and that didn't work very well on television, as usual. But I think that after the debate it was so interesting because the people who had asked the questions all gathered around George Bush, and [Senator John] Kerry was kind of by himself over here, and they, and, and they have been quoted in days since then saying, "He [Bush] was such a nice guy, I really liked him after the debate." So I think if George Bush could go around the country and meet 290 million Americans, he could win, but of course, he can't do that.

—J.C.