The Today Show: Down Stock Market, "Sluggish" Economy GOP's Fault

The Today Show

[governsleastgovernsbest]

With Katie Couric off for the day, it looks like Matt Lauer was working overtime to prove his GOP-busting credentials. The Today Show opened with the closing bell of the NY Stock Exchange, and the ominous statement: "there are shock waves in the markets and the reverberations are being felt all the way to the White House." Lauer also had on the dependable Tim Russert, who solemnly intoned that the problems of corporate responsibility are huge for the Republicans, because they resonate with voters. Russert then added "couple it with a "sluggish" economy and it's a big problem for Republicans."

"Sluggish" economy? Is Russert aware that the economy grew at the remarkable rate of 6.1% in the last quarter? This is similar to Clinton in '92, running on the economy that Bush Sr. had supposedly "run into a ditch", when the truth was that during the last two quarters of '92, the economy was growing at a robust 4-5%.

One guest refused to play along with Lauer's "blame the Republicans" theory. When Lauer tried to get financial expert Ron Insana to agree that the down market was the result of lack of investor confidence in corrupt corporations, Insana said that the big problem was that investors were concerned that grandstanding politicians would overreact, strangling corporations with new regulations and hurting the economy!

[Judith Anne]

I guess they didn't read the CBS poll...either that or they are trying to create news out of thin air, again.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

It must have been a touch choice for Today between the "hold the presses" news that the stock market went down, and re-airing the Inglewood police incident video for the umpteenth time.

[Judith Anne]

I'm so SURE. /sarc

[Wonder Warthog]

"..the dependable Tim Russert, who solemnly intoned that the problems of corporate responsibility are huge for the Republicans, because they resonate with voters. Russert then added "couple it with a "sluggish" economy and it's a big problem for Republicans."

Gee--"detestable" Tim Russert, how does that idea jibe with the recent poll that says a large majority of people (rightly) blame those problems on the Clinton administration's atmosphere of total corruption??

I got news for Tim--the problems started and grew on CLINTON'S watch--not Bush's.

[babble-on]

Good for Ron Insana! not playing ball with the jackass Lauer.

[ChadGore]

Slander. Ann is right.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

On a certain masochistic level, it is worthwhile watching The Today Show on a daily basis. People will see that the way the news was framed today was not an isolated incident, but just one more example of a consistent pattern in which the news is shaped and shredded worse than Martha Stewart with a head of lettuce, to fit the Democrat agenda. It is really that blatant.

[McGruff]

Thanks for your reports on the enemy’s broadcasts. You must have a strong stomach to be able to watch that show. Keep up the good work.

Right now I’m listening to Sen. John Kerry on IMUS’s show blaming the Bush administration on the current financial situation.

[YaYa123]

John Kerry is on a tear all right. Yesterday McCain, who had to explain away all his WorldCom contributions, and today Kerry, pretending he's a military expert....and now pretending he doesn't already know he's going to run for president. I've said all along, and continue to believe, he will be the Demo's presidential candidate, and the only one who has military credentials to put up against Commander In Chief Bush.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

If The Today Show wanted to present even a hint of balance, they might have mentioned how various Dems have related problems of their own. See this article, for example, about the blatant conflicts of interest that Tom Daschle has with a wife who as a lobbyist reaps a fortune from companies with business before Congress. But of course not a word from Today.

Daschle's Conflicts of Interest

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

...Insana said that the big problem was that investors were concerned that grandstanding politicians would overreact, strangling corporations with new regulations and hurting the economy!

I like Insana. He's sharp as a tack and he tells it like it is.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Thanks, Dog. Watching this stuff is my disease. Posting about it is my therapy!

[governsleastgovernsbest]

As a sidenote, invariably on these "the sky is falling" segments, the interviewer will ask the "expert": 'is there some safe place for investors in this troubled market?' As if markets aren't an intricate balance of risk and reward. As if, with hindsight, it might not be true that the best place to invest today would be in some of the most beaten-down stocks.

Just for the record, Insana indicated that real estate is doing very well right now. But of course history teaches us that this could just as easily mean that real estate is at the top of a business cycle and due for a drop!

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Insana said that the big problem was that investors were concerned that grandstanding politicians would overreact, strangling corporations with new regulations and hurting the economy!

Is this when the BIG stick with the hook on it came out of the curtain and yanked this guy backstage by the neck???? (How dare he tell the truth when the Today Show has an agenda to drive home here... I'm glad I quit watching this kind of cr_p a long time ago.)

[rohry]

"But of course history teaches us that this could just as easily mean that real estate is at the top of a business cycle and due for a drop!"

Oh, don't say that. Alot of self-deluded Freepers are deciding that real estate is the place to go now.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Believe me, I don't relish saying this, since my income is tied to real estate! I'm not making any particular prediction about real estate, just trying to suggest that the kind of financial advice offered on the TV shows tends to be worse than useles.

[rohry]

I'm joking. I think RE is going in the tank, and am renting for the first time in almost 25 years.

[McGruff]

NBC whitehouse correspondent David Gregory on IMUS now quoting new DNC talking point "Bush's Whitewater".

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Gee, weren't Gregory and his DNC colleagues saying that Whitewater was old news, nothing there, move on, been there done that?