Rush

Today Rush asked a caller if his life is better now than when Obama took office (about 70 days ago). Caller said Obama's been meeting with people who are doing better off, so probably things are better (not a good answer - but that doesn't matter here)

Rush goes on to admonish the caller for listening to the drive by media, which is nothing more than Obama's own stenographer.

His next claim was what drove me nuts today .. that 600,000 people are out of a job each month, and that American auto manufacturers are going out of business. While these facts may be more or less true .. what he went on to say was that this is all Obama's fault, that it is all evidence that Obama's policies have failed.

These later points simply cannot be made only 70 days into the Obama administration. The global economy - which really is what is trying to be corrected - doesn't change in 70 days. It is going to take time. To issue any kind of assessment after only 70 days is way, way, way too premature. The macro economy moves not like a nimble, sure footed sports car, but more like a giant ocean tanker. It takes a long, long time to make even the slightest adjustment in direction.

Yet the damage is done .. now all Rush's blinded followers believe that Obama's policies have _already_ failed. They are programmed to believe the economy is headed straight into a trash can.

In fact, given that Rush has 20 million listeners, if he can convince enough of them that Obama is sending the economy into the skids, then these people could actually help this occur - because a consumer based economy is so dependent on people SPENDING their money - when enough of them become afraid that the economy is about to worsen, and suddenly curtail or even STOP spending, then it becomes a self fulfuilling prophecy.

Furthermore, Rush has publicly stated that he WANTS Obama's policies to fail. So, since he has the power to sway millions of people, and his stated desire is for Obama's policies to fail, then it stands to reason he would try to influence his listeners into not going along with any optimism that might loosen their purse strings and in any way assist in economic recovery.

Funny thing is, Wall St. doesn't seem to agree with Rush as to where the economy is headed. Today it closed at 8029. The market is very nearly back to where it was when Obama took office.

Oh, that brings up another funny thing .. you don't hear Rush, Hannity, Ingraham, et. al. talking about the market anymore. My how times change quickly .. just 3 weeks ago they couldn't talk enough about how Wall St. was taking a nose dive because of Obama. Now that the market has recovered .. an eerie silence on the topic exists on the conservative talk airwaves.

Limbaugh, Apr '09 - finally addresses stock market

OK he's finally begun the spin on why the market is up "265 points" (it was in fact, up 265 at mid-day, on the day he made this statement)

He 'blames' the rise in the market - again, only mentioning the 265 point rise, not the 1200+ point it has risen from March 9 to March 31 - on the easing of 'mark to market' accounting practices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark-to-market)

While this may be bullish for the market today, the market rise started March 9. The FASB did not vote until Arpil 2 on a proposal "allowing companies to use more leeway in valuing their assets under "mark-to-market" accounting, a move that could ease balance-sheet pressures many companies say they are feeling during the economic crisis".

So, RL continues to ignore that the market has risen over 1200 points (almost 20%) in 4 weeks. He only addresses a one day, 265 point bump that might be attributed to a vote to relax accounting regulation.

Yet on his show he made the argument that the only reason the market is up is because of this 'artificial' regulatory.

Oh OK, he is changing his story even as I listen .. He now also claims that the market loves it when Obama is out of the country. " The market is going crazy .. the only difference is that Obama is out of the country today". "If Obama would announce that he'd stay out of the country for an entire month, the market would skyrocket".

Again .. he completely ignores the fact that the market rose +1200 pts in March, and I'm quite sure Obama was in the US most, if not all, of March '09

RL is so full of BS

Limbaugh, Apr '09

In March, when the stock market was at incredible lows, the talk shows were lambasting Obama for driving the economy into the ground - using the stock market as proof.

Since its low in early March, the market has recovered significantly. I have heard nary a whisper of the phrase 'stock market' since that low. These talk show hosts are ever sooooo selective of the information they highlight.

Instead, now that the market is doing well, what sort of things are they talking and railing about?

Today, Rush L has:

1. Spent an entire commercial-to-commercial segment on a wild turtle walking into a turtle hospital.

2. Produced and aired a spoof press conference of Kim Jong Il - no information, no reality; just a commedy sketch.

3. Made fun of the White House sending a DVD to England's PM using the wrong format

4. Skewered Obama for bringing 12 teleprompters to the G20 meeting (hmm .. how many did Bush bring?)

After 2 hrs of this nonsense, he finally made a criticism of Obama that is, at least, of a serious nature. He criticized Obama for accepting some blame for the current global economic disaster. Rush said Europeans blame the US for everything - now our own president is agreeing with them.

Hmm .. this implies quite clearly that RL disagrees that the lack of financial regulation in the US contributed to the current global economic mess. Well, it has - and it can be documented that it has - contributed at least partially (significantly, according to many) to the current global economic mess. So, RL is simply WRONG on this point.