Kristol Issues Another Correction: I Was Wrong To Blame Obama For Stock Market Declines
Kristol Issues Another Correction: I Was Wrong To Blame Obama For Stock Market Declines
In discussing the state of the economy this morning on Fox News Sunday, conservative commentator Bill Kristol noted that the stock market has performed reasonably well over the last several months. “The market’s up 35 percent in the last two months, which is pretty amazing,” Kristol said. He then noted that those Republicans — including himself — who were “chortling” about the stock market’s significant decline just after President Obama’s inauguration would now be forced to admit that they were wrong:
Republicans who were chortling over that 20 percent drop in the stock market the first month or two of [Obama's] administration are going to be, fairly enough, hoist on our own petard by the fact that now Obama’s getting this big stock market rally. … I — no one should base anything on this forecast — but in my view the short term is surprisingly bullish, but medium-long term very worrisome.
Watch it:
Indeed, a key talking point of the right-wing in late 2008 and the early part of 2009 was that the significant decline in the stock market was evidence that Obama’s approach to economic recovery was already failing. Kristol himself penned a column in the Weekly Standard entitled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Obama gives the markets the back of his hand.” In it, Kristol argued that Obama’s failure to base his entire economic agenda on ensuring day-to-day gains in the markets on Wall Street demonstrated he had already failed at governing:
So the stock market drops over 25 percent since Election Day, almost 20 percent since Inauguration — and Barack Obama tells the American people at his press conference Tuesday not to “spend all your time worrying about that.” [...]
The stock market is about real money, about the real livelihoods of real. … I’m told almost every theme in Obama’s speech last Tuesday night was focus-group tested–and the speech played pretty well politically. But the markets weren’t impressed. Isn’t it time for Obama and his team to get up the nerve to stop playing politics and to govern?
Kristol, of course, was not alone in making this argument. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Republicans in Congress all got on board. The question now is whether or not Kristol’s conservative brethren will follow his lead and issue a correction.
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More confessions of anti-American behavior from the wingnuts. If daily gains on Wall Street are crucial to the economy (which is moronic), then why are they “chortling” about a falling market? Like Limbaugh, Kristol and his ilk would rather see the entire economy fail than to see Obama and liberalism succeed.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:03 amI think William the Bloody gets a perverse pleasure out of being humiliated in public. Have you ever seen his twisted little grin when Jon Stewart is ripping him a new one on The Daily Show?
I think he likes the attention. Thus, his willingness to own up to stuff like this.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:04 amA neocon admits he’s wrong? Has hell frozen over this morning? Are pigs flying?
May 10th, 2009 at 11:10 amWingnuts have their fingers crossed behind their backs praying for some disaster any disaster to befall the nation. It is so obvious as you listen to Cheney Limbaugh and Kristol in their rants. Praying to their rancid deity for failure tells you a lot about them and their god
May 10th, 2009 at 11:11 amHAHAHAHAHA…..BILLY BOY IS GOING TO HAVE TO RETRACT HIS RETRACTION AFTER THIS SUCKER’S RALLY STOPS AND THE DOW HEADS SOUTH TO 5,000/4,000
May 10th, 2009 at 11:12 amOff Topic:
Rant On:
Once again while on ‘Face The Nation’ Darth Cheney is allowed to spew his lies about the effectiveness of the Bush polices that he claims have kept our country safe from another terrorist attack since 9/11. Darth also went on to claim that the Bush administration knew little about Al Qaida.
First of all, after the first WTC attack in 1993, President Clinton didn’t need or use torture, rendition, illegal surveillance or war to keep us safe from another terrorist attack for the next seven years. Cheney is full of bullsh*t and conveniently forgets about the anthrax attacks.
Secondly if Cheney’s claim that the Bush administration knew little about Al Qaida is true than who is to blame for that? They were warned many times by US and foreign intelligence and terrorist experts about a coming terrorist attack in the US and they choose to ignore everything. They knew about Bin Laden and Al Qaida because of previous attacks on US Embassy’s and the USS Cole.
Why does the pathetic US media allow this jacka$$ to continue to spew his lies, distorted truths and recreated history? Why doesn’t anyone in the media ever challenge his moronic claims? Why doesn’t the right wing media get upset that Cheney is attacking our President during a time of war?
Wasn’t it the right wing media and the republicans who labeled anyone who questioned or attacked our President during a time of war as “unpatriotic” or “unAmerican” Where are these same clowns today? Or is it just “unpatriotic” or “unAmerican” to question a republican president when our country is at war?
Rant Off.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:16 amThe are “unblaming” Obama for the market decline, so they can “uncredit” for the market rise. Very cynical.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:18 amrastaman, i think you got some shrooms mixed in your ganja
that’s bag mojo man
May 10th, 2009 at 11:19 amThe Repugnican’t knife only cuts one way. If Obama was responsible on the way down, then logic would show the President responsible for the recent gains.
Kristol couldn’t give the blue team a victory, so Bill shot himself in the foot.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:21 amExactly right. Their hypocrisy they find easy to overlook.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:29 amYes, dixie, pigs are flying, and I cornered the snowball concession in Hades this morning….
May 10th, 2009 at 11:38 amHe only issued that “correction” NOW in order to NOT give Obama credit for the market doing well.
That’s the ONLY reason he issued the so called correction.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:49 amSilly liberals, don’t you know that Democrats are completely domineering and tyrannical when things are going badly, but totally ineffectual and irrelevant when things go well?
Next you’ll start claiming that wars are expensive or that oil companies lobby congress!
Loony libs!
/snark
May 10th, 2009 at 11:53 amBill was wrong for blaming the stock market decline on Obama . He will ,if the past is any indication , be wrong again the next time he opens his mouth . He is in fact a poster child for everything that has been wrong in America for the previous 8 years !
May 10th, 2009 at 11:54 amYou are no longer relevant Bill , you are bad for America and you are helping to bury your party . Go away .
On second thought maybe you should stay . Here’s a bigger shovel and please pardon the interruption .
May 10th, 2009 at 11:58 amThe stock market is about real money, about the real livelihoods of real.
The stock market is not about real money. It’s about paper money and paper profits. The key is knowing when to get out with your profits intact.
May 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pmlil billy should have ended his statement after “i was wrong”. period, end of statement
May 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pmWith their refusal to support the Stimulus in any form, and their organizing of the “Tea Party” protests, it’s clear the Republicans are staking their chances in 2012 on Obama’s economic policies failing. This is a huge gamble politically. With signs of improvement already, it makes you wonder what they will do when the economy improves.
Having the entire Republican House delegation vote “No” on the Stimulus, then going around saying Obama must “own it”, they just might be setting themselves up for failure. Now if things improve, they will deserve no credit. Obama will “own” the improvement.
To me, this tactic is as stupid politically as turning to Rush Limbaugh as your Party leader. It is as short-sighted as going after Obama for the stock market decline when the odds are stocks will show gains again and make them look foolish.
May 10th, 2009 at 12:38 pmHeh. Billy Kristol was… *gasp* WRONG????
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
May 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pmA fine one Kristol is to be talking about somebody else “playing politics”. That is all Kristol ever does. As for leadership, where was Kristol during the huge Bush leadership vacuum of the last 8 years?
May 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pmAdmitting that he was wrong is the only correct thing Kristol has ever said.
May 10th, 2009 at 12:44 pmFirst, Krisol is the most consistently wrong person on the air today. He takes the pro-torture party Wrong-ness to a whole other level.
Second, why does he still have a job?
May 10th, 2009 at 1:13 pmUnfortunately, most of the right wing pundits never let reality get in the way of their rhetoric.
May 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pmThey had been blaming Obama for the economic downturn long before he was even elected, let alone inaugurated, yet it is unlikely that they will give him any of the credit if the economy continues its steady recovery.
Kristol is such an insufferable shit.
====
May 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pm“The question now is whether or not Kristol’s conservative brethren will follow his lead and issue a correction.”
I wouldn’t hold by breath on that bet, but I sure wish Kristol and his ilk will…all the way to hell.
May 10th, 2009 at 5:39 pmWell, historically, after such a recession, we will see a few of these rallies with the market gaining 35-40% before the pendulum swings the other way.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pmBill ‘Scoop’ Kristol he was wrong before, many times..so why is this time any different?
Because the rally is based on changes to banking rules where, suddenly, the toxic assets they needed to get off their balance sheets are back on because of Enron style valuing of formerly toxic assets.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:37 pmThat’s a small but welcome first step for a man who has become influential, rich and famous being consistently wrong about everything for decades.
May 10th, 2009 at 8:18 pmhas kristol been right about anything?
May 10th, 2009 at 8:21 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
rastaman Says:
AFTER THIS SUCKER’S RALLY STOPS AND THE DOW HEADS SOUTH TO 5,000/4,000
Have any lotto numbers, Miss Cleo?
May 10th, 2009 at 11:15 am Add Karma Recommend (2) | Report Abuse
Even though I am a registered Republican, I believe the Mr. Kristol should not have made the results of the market a partisan issue. But-I hate to agree with you-Rastaman is somewhat correct. The recent gains are false gains because many investors believed that most banks would be somewhat solvent and would not need more capital from the Government. For example, last Tuesday, it was leaked out that the Bank of American would need more capital. Bank of America informed investors and the Federal Reserve that they have the financial resources to cover their capital, which means that they would not have to raise funds to cover the capital needed to survive. This is why there were market gains. But, as of Thursday, the stress test proved that this was false. It also proved that there were 9 other banks, out of the 19 banks, that need more capital. Yet, based on this information, the increase in the unemployment rate, etc., there were still gains in the market. This is because investors are being duped into believing that everything is alright, when, in all actuality, the cards are falling. We still have a credit card bubble and corporate real estate default bubble that will burst by September. I am almost guaranteeing that the market will drop below 7000 by October. The market is gaining on false reports, cooked books and bad psychology. I hope I am wrong, but it will correct itself for the worst. Another large stimulus will be needed, which it will be extremely hard to receive support for another package from our officials and the populist. We still have a ways to go. Brace yourself and look to God to resolve are economic problems.
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Except he DIDN’T say he was wrong. He barely placed himself in the same group as “the republicans” who were “chortling”
His problem was not that he was wrong, but that he had no basis for making the accusation. He makes it sound like “Oops, we got that one wrong.” like it was totally justified at the time, but shucks.. them’s the breaks.
I suppose I ought to be shocked that he even went that far, but I don’t see this as an admission. Just a realization. He even qualifies it at the end by saying that even though the short-term looks good, the long-term is ‘worrisome’ as if to say “You say we were wrong, but give it time.”
The only thing that will make me feel good is if he is taken off the air, preferably in mid sentence.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:15 pmDoubtful. Keep in mind that the market is NOT the economy. The market has already been though it’s panic mode, and it’s coming out of that. It’s WAY down right now and coming back up. The funny thing is that it’s coming up on BAD news. It’s just that the bad news we’re hearing now isn’t as bad as the news we heard last month, so in the weird world of market forces, that is “GOOD” news. Make no mistake; THERE HAS BEEN NO TURN AROUND IN THE ECONOMY YET. The indicators are all still going down, inflation is still going up and jobs are still vanishing. It’s just that they are slowing, and they aren’t as bad as expected. They will continue to slow and then start getting better, but as far as the market is concerned, it can maintain it’s up-trend as long as the slide is slowing. Not as crappy bad news is good news. This up-trend may indeed continue. Some of that will seep into the actual economy and the two can feed off each other bringing about a real recovery. It may not happen, but saying it won’t happen or can’t happen shows a lack of understanding about the dynamics involved.
Yes, I trade stocks. I was making money while the market was dropping 40% last year so I know a teeny bit about what I’m saying.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pmOh Bill…You had me at “I was wrong” (sigh)
May 11th, 2009 at 11:26 pmBilly and company need to be on 24/7….the more they open their pieholes the more America sees their stupidity.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:18 amWilliam Kristos is a total idiot and he only makes things worse for himself and his image every time that he opens his piehole. As far as I am concerned William Kristol needs to be charged along with the rest of the members of the PNAC who William Kristol started with Robert Kagan back in the 1990’s.
I wonder how William Kristol would appreciate being hauled off to the Hague to be charged for International War Crimes for starting a War in Iraq based on lies. It would be justice to see William Kristol, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, other members of the PNAC and the Ahole Dick Cheney all sentenced to death for their complicity in starting a war in Iraq on known lies.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am