While many of you think that Jonah Goldberg was just making shit up when he put forth his convincing theories about the causal relationship between President Obama’s electoral odds and day-to-day market performance, I think it would be unwise to dismiss someone who has produced such scholarly pieces of work such as Liberal Fascism.
As such, I think it is clear to anyone and everyone that the fact the market is up a couple hundred points today is proof that the markets reacted VERY favorably to Obama’s education plan.
Coincidence? I think not!
Adrienne
I mean, DUH. Having fewer dumb kids has gotta be good for somebody! Amirite? Amirite?
Incertus
Come on, man–there’s only so many clown shoes examples I can take before I shut down completely, and I just got home from work. Uncle, already!
Joey Maloney
I’m going to repost this, because it’s actually on-topic for this entry: Write your own Jonah Goldberg joke
JenJen
Businessweek seems to be testing the Malkin/Goldberg Obameconomy Theory, too:
Did Obama Cause The Stock Slide?
Pretty chart, but of course, no mention that between Election Day (9625.3) and Inauguration Day (7949.1), Obama was not actually the President. One would think this would be a glaring hole in the plot that would catch the eye of an editor. One would be wrong about that.
Cat Lady
Today it was Citi’s profit announcement and Frank’s uptick rule mention. Obama only gets blame. Get with the program.
(can’t read the GG link – so. many. words.)
Ricky Bobby
The obvious retardedness of anyone who takes the theory that Obama’s policies make the stock market move is trumped only by the stunning retardedness of anyone who takes anything Doughy Pantload says seriously.
Tax Analyst
OOH…Wall Street investors think the new administration may have "bungled". That’s ALMOST funny, when you consider the cluster-fuck that unregulated CDS swaps trading produced, and the folks who pushed the bill allowing that through Congress (Phil Gramm, et al) back around 1999 or 2000.
Don’t they realize that Obama is trying to clean up an overflowing toxic spill that SOMEBODY ELSE LEFT HIM?
WTF do they think John McCain would have done? Do they think he would just wave his POW story at it, tell them that our "economic fundamentals are fine" and it would be all gone?
nepat
I can tell you why the stock market is tanking. There’s no effin money! There’s a $20 trillion hole in the global economy, Jonah! Stop scratching your big head. These are the geniuses whose current business model boils down to this: Nerd Cruises w/ KLo!
calipygijan
Not Fascist – the Office of Legal Council writing memos nullifying the First and Fourth Amendments.
Fascist – raising the top marginal tax rate from 36 to 39 percent.
Got it?
AnotherBruce
I think the market has rallied due to the fact that Obama has lifted restrictions on stem cell research. Wall Street is excited that there will be millions and millions of embryos on the open market! Umm, delicious embryos.
joe from Lowell
I’d say it’s 30% the education plan, 40% stem cells, 25-28% Gitmo-closing-committee progress meeting, and 2-5% ongoing economic conditions.
Probably closer to 2 than 5%. Somewhere in there.
The Populist
…yet these buffoons don’t think the guy is working. TO the ingrates on the right, it must blow their minds compared to what Bush did in his first 100 days.
The Populist
BINGO! I thought we all wanted America to be the leader of the free world? Letting science and education standards fall to make some kind of lame point by those on the right show they could give two shits about this country.
gnomedad
@JenJen:
Of course he did! And when it comes back, it will be thanks to Ronald Reagan. History is just a bunch of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.
Comrade Stuck
You think not right!
Here is your market raiser.
Read it and weep wingnut’s. Thy Worm Moon hath turned teh Market. And that, as they say, is Prettier than it Sounds.
Nutters Know Nuttin"
schrodinger's cat
Shorter Jonah Goldberg
I iz in Ur internets making up dumb theories
Brick Oven Bill
I would argue that the market went up because the President was talking about something other than the economy, and Geithner was kept in the back room, presumably fiddling with a Rubik’s Cube.
That, and the fact that a bank president said something nice about his bank. Which means that this is the time to sell. Because Barack will continue to talk, Tim will not be able to hide, and we know about bank presidents. It is easy to make money when the Treasury gives you money, the way I see it.
Glenn Beck’s ratings were better than the entire rest of cable TV combined, plus 200,000, yesterday. That is pretty good. I told you guys that he is the one to keep an eye on. I think Greta is feeling the heat for her 10pm EST slot. She is getting increasingly cranky.
schrodinger's cat
On a more serious note, I don’t understand the media obsession with Dow 30, when other indexes like S & P 500 or the Russell 3000 are far better indicators of the equity markets. They also seem to use the Dow as a short-hand for the overall economy.
Comrade Stuck
@schrodinger’s cat:
Because it has bigger numbers with bigger drops and rises that creates bigger drama. It’s showbiz, dude!
The Moar You Know
@schrodinger’s cat: You’ve just answered your own question.
schrodinger's cat
not a dude, dude.
Svensker
OT again, I am just really pissed off right now. Schumer and Lieberman have forced Chas Freeman to withdraw. Why don’t we just make fucking Israel the 51st state with full veto power over everything we do in the U.S., and get it over with.
Zifnab
@schrodinger’s cat: The cable news networks are plugged into the American Aristocracy. When you’ve got rampant unemployment, fading middle-class wages, waves of small business failures, or skyrocketing food or insurance prices, these are little people problems. When multi-million dollar stock portfolios start tanking to the tune of 10-15% a month, THAT’S headlines.
Not to mention, Wall Street is right around the corner from the big news agencies. That means the BIG STORY is within walking distance of the studio. Compare that to the relatively remote concerns like droughts or freezes in distant locales like Kansas or the Dakotas. Or plant closings in rural Ohio. Who wants to travel all the way up to Podunk, Whogivesacrap USA to cover something so banal?
KG
@21: in defense of Comrade Stuck, "cats" are usually "dudes" and "kittys" are usually "gals"
schrodinger's cat
The Moar You Know @ 20
But that’s lazy and not accurate.
Comrade Stuck
@schrodinger’s cat:
OOPS. Sorry madame lady cat. Please don’t bite me!
Max
I’m certain that Goldberg will reveal his theory about why the markets are up today, but not before asking strangers on the Internet to do his research for him.
The Moar You Know
@schrodinger’s cat: Ms. Kitty, that is the shortest and most accurate summary of the state of modern mass media I have ever read.
If I want accurate economic information, I go elsewhere. Calculated Risk is a good starting point. There are many others.
TheHatOnMyCat
I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen any examination of data that indicated a causative relationship between the utterings of any presidents and the daily fluctuations in the stock market.
Produce such evidence, please. Otherwise we will have to take you for a lying, stupid fuckhead.
Oh wait, too late. Sorry, never mind.
TheHatOnMyCat
That’s about one fifteenth of one percent of the population, Bill.
Do you have something more ….. I dunno …. interesting?
David
By rooting for the economy to fail, the Republicans have kinda painted themselves into a corner.
Punchy
I’m w/ Sven. Why the fuck is anyone and everyone who ever whispers even a weak, diluted criticism of Izzy kneecapped in record time? What’s it take for Da Juice to be condemmed for sumpin?
The Populist
So? How old is the core audience? If it’s not the age group that buys products, it’s empty ratings.
The one to watch is Maddow who has a SOLID youth viewership.
The Populist
Oh and btw, Beck will see his ratings decline soon enough. If he’s reliable on anything it’s that he will say something totally dumb that turns off the audience.
Martin
Market is up on the news that Walker, Texas Ranger will run for Walker, Texas President after the wingnuts blind the nation in toxic cloud of cheeto dust and grab their sharpies and make the line between Texas and New Mexico as dark as the line between Texas and Mexico.
Pop quiz: Is the market up on the news that there will be a popular uprising against the Marxist foreigner, or is the market up on the news that all the retards are going to cast off on the S.S. Lone Star and leave the rest of the country to the adults?
Martin
Colbert bump. Everyone is tuning in for the preview to the next episode of Doom Bunker.
The Populist
Hey Bushwacker Bill…
I notice you neglected to post this from the ratings article you quoted:
…while “The Rachel Maddow Show” brought in 134% more viewers than the time period had last year.
While I understand that Maddow took over for Tucker Carlson or whoever was in that spot previously, and nobody watched that loser, its solid gains. Beck took over in a slot that wasn’t as dead on the "most watched news network on cable" and the best he can do is grow it 34%? Shit, Olbermann grew by almost the same number. So what does that say? I KNOW Olbermann outdraws Beck.
Brick Oven Bill
I will be happy to provide you with that data TheHatOnMyCat, I think I have already done this, but I am used to dealing with the ladies who manage the man with two desks, so I am properly conditioned. Kind of like Brad Pitt is these days.
Here we have the McCain-Obama polling data. On October 5th, 2008, a reasonable person would have concluded that Barack would win the race, and begin to take their money out of the market, to avoid a hike in capital gains taxes. The Dow was over 13,000 then.
As the market dropped, the proverbial tide went out, and we found out that the Madoff’s of the world were not wearing undies. And this took us down another notch. When Obama won, people like me still thought that there was a chance that Obama would be a pragmatist, and govern from the middle.
And then we went from there. People say that the market is at 1997 levels. This is false as this assumption is simplistic and does not include inflation. 6800 today is probably less half of the value of 6800 in 1997.
calipygian
If the word that described the Clinton years was "Blowjob!", why do I get the feeling that the one word description of the Obama years will be "Wolverines!"?
Jay
@AnotherBruce: Yep, it was stem-cells. Now they can genetically engineer someone with a clue for Treasury.
The Moar You Know
@Punchy: I knew a kid in high school. When he was 12, his dad had been killed in a helicopter accident.
He was a complete asshole. He thought that because this horrible thing had happened to him (and it was a horrible thing, no one disputed that) that he should be allowed to do whatever he wanted, because he’d suffered enough in life.
It’s looking like the same situation with Israel. They’ve taken their six million dead and are using them as a get-out-of-jail-free card for everything they want to do, right or wrong.
A greater act of disrespect to their dead I cannot imagine.
Chuck Butcher
I am fascinated by the now endless play the ‘doing too much’ theme is getting in the media. I suppose the R strategy is pretty simple, if you don’t want something that is headed your way like a freight train – put it off. Delay, delay until the things are dead of a thousand cuts.
Of course the media thrives on any dispute, it is simply enough – news. The challenge for liberals (or progressives or whatever) is to steer the dispute in their favor. I’m not seeing enough of that. This ‘too much’ argument requires public push back, LTEs, bitching at news orgs for one sided presentations, pushing at legislators. If you know what the opposition is doing then it is a case of either the silent version of assent, or public opposition to it.
You can have an idea that simply voting every two years will change the fundamental dynamics, well that is exactly what the defenders of the status quo hope you will believe because that short circuits the public debate of ideas.
Zifnab
That and ten cents will get you a nickle. Cable ratings have been plummeting for years. Beck has an audience of 2.2 million viewers which would be considered absolutely anemic on any prime-time network. I mean, holy crap, HBO’s "Big Love" managed a 2.88 million viewer audience in an even more competitive time slot. Mormon v. Mormon, it comes up on top.
KG
Holy Bat Shit Insane! I just read Chuck Norris’ "I may run for president of Texas". Um, wow. I mean, wow. How does one right something like that? How does anyone read that and not think, "huh, that almost sounds like treason"?
Martin
No. You don’t get to do that. On Sept. 17, 2008, a number of money market funds broke the buck. A run on money markets was narrowly averted, and anyone with any real investment in the market knew we were fucked either way. That news trumps any and all peripheral bullshit including the election, the price of pizza dough, and the per capita consumption of tractors.
The financial markets broke based on Republican deregulation. There is no ‘other cause’ after that.
AnotherBruce
Ummm, not to say that B.O.B. would ever mislead us, but is there any, like source for what he says about No Neck Beck stomping the cable competition by 200,000 viewers? It’s true that TV is a vast wasteland and that cable news is the tar pits in the middle of the wasteland that entraps the stupid. But it’s kind of hard to believe that there are that many people that fit the special Beck brand of stupid. But maybe I underestimate the limitlessness of deep dumb.
Zifnab
@KG: You’re confusing "treason" with "stupid".
KG
causation, correlation, and coincidence. They are three different things that can sometimes be confused with each other.
David
Breaking News from Wizbang!!!
"Liberals in general, especially the folks involved in these conference calls, are very much collectivized in their thought and actions. Instead of thinking or acting individually, they encourage – require – adherence to a particular line of thought and action. Similarly, they love mass transit where everyone moves from point A to point B as a collective. They love collectivized health care . . ."
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/03/10/a-vast-leftwing-conspiracy.php
MikeJ
I seem to recall that All Things Considered on NPR gets something north of 10 million listeners, but I’m far too lazy to look shit up just because someone wants to argue with the guy who really, really likes pies. (Thanks cleek!)
The Moar You Know
@Martin: As you know, we were hours away from total meltdown. We have been living on borrowed time ever since.
Brick Oven Bill
I have commented earlier about Joe the Plumber’s prescience, which was very impressive to me. Now I will tell you why Glenn Beck’s project has me intrigued. I am considering attending one of the viewing parties, to see who shows up and hear what Glenn has to say.
At the place the group is to meet, there is a brick oven and they make pizza. Coincidence? Or something else?
Mike in NC
Just like a pedophile who moves into your neighborhood.
Nothing a little more plastic surgery can’t fix.
TheHatOnMyCat
Random data points and casual correlation are not analysis, Bill.
Even a high school student knows that correlation is not causation.
You need to show causation, or else your penis is going to fall off within the hour. Do I make myself clear?
Proof, or loss of penis.
It’s up to you.
MikeJ
I would guess this person has never tried anything as complicated as ordering a pizza with a group of liberals.
TheHatOnMyCat
Moderation is good. Yay.
Zifnab
Actually, something arguably more significant happened on October 5th, 2008.
~ via the BBC
One could argue that it was Sarah Palin’s baseless claim that Obama – already favored to win the Presidency back in September – was an associate of terrorists that triggered the panic on Wall Street. I mean, if you thought Yassar Arafat was about to get elected to the Presidency, what would you do with your money.
Obviously, you would shove them in US Treasuries.
If the massive flight to US Treasuries isn’t a condemnation of how Barack Obama is running the US Government, I simply don’t know what is.
schrodinger's cat
Comrade Stuck @26
It was an honest mistake, all is forgiven, besides cats don’t hold grudges.
The Moar You Know @ 28
Thanks for the link.
Are there any other econ/finance blogs that people like?
Martin
No shit. You’ve got 37 different flavors of vegetarian to route around, and then me, trying to eat as much sausage and bacon as possible to reduce the time I need to stretch my inevitably pitiful retirement dollars.
Punchy
I juss love how all these fucknuts simply choose any random date (Oct. 5th, bitches!) as "the date" that Obama "won", then blame the entire Dow meltdown on him. Disingenuous fux, the lot of ’em.
Comrade Stuck
@David:
Trains, Planes and Automobiles. If we run out of room for the trip, we break out the rubber duckies.
TheHatOnMyCat
@TheHatOnMyCat:
Bill? Tick, tock.
Don’t let this happen to you, man. It’s not worth it.
bago
@Brick Oven Bill: So what was prescient? Him being "Joe", him being a "plumber" or him being a "journalist" that does not believe in journalism?
You’re going to break the "" key on my keyboard man!
AnotherBruce
They love collectivized health care . . ."
And they love collectivized love. All the liberals I know regularly attend huge wanton orgies. It’s always a problem finding stadiums for our massive bacchanalia. I’m telling ya, conservatives are missing out by refusing to be assimilated.
Brick Oven Bill
Reading the recent comments, its just like I am back in Saudi. Shudder.
The 17SEP08 event sealed McCain’s fate, leading to the 05OCT08 observations of the public, and the collapse of the market. One question is: Who pulled out the original $500 billion? And the bigger question is: Why is our government not telling us who pulled out the $500 billion?
Was it George Soros, or an innocent random hiccup, or a foreign power? In my view, one possibility is it was a group that has the goods on the Obama birth certificate. If there were to be such a group, this is what they would do. This is what they would have accomplished:
1. Get their compromised President in place.
The Obama Administration should release the data on who withdrew the $500 billion. They should also tell the public who is getting the TARP funds. The most transparent Administration ever is saying nothing.
Brick Oven Bill
Bago, when Joe the Plumber gets his beer sponsorship, Obama will raise Joe’s taxes.
Lady luck is golden, she favors the bold, that’s cold, stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxophones, so get out there in your front yard and ask a tough question to the politician who is patronizing you.
He might tell you that he is a socialist.
Les Miserable Fulcanelli
I’ve got a benjamin that sez (not) Joe the (not) Plumber doesn’t even know what prescient means nor could he spell it.
Les Miserable Fulcanelli
@AnotherBruce:
Informed sources report of a notable deficit in conservatives’ hang time so no loss there for the ladies. Carry on.
"the night has a thousand saxophones?" Dude, just what are you sprinkling on that pizza you’re making?
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill: You’re forgetting the Sarah Palin factor, Bill. What about the Sarah Palin factor? Did Sarah Palin’s claim bring down the economy in an attempt to bring down the Presidency? I demand you give me your opinion on this. It is a matter of vital importance.
The Populist
Yet the same morons who make up these talking points hate free markets (why are they afraid of opening up slots for moderate and liberal talk show hosts to compete?) or they hate socialized health care and social security yet none ever give these things back.
Last time I checked nobody on the left was praying at the alter of Michael Moore or Ralph Nader. Shit, it’s tough to get more than 2 liberals to agree on ANYTHING in lockstep. Now the right, they sure love being lockstep with everything to the point of it being bizarre. Prove me wrong.
Yep, lead by example of shut the fuck up.
The Populist
L.A. Times confirms it BUT mentions Maddow and Olberman growing quickly as well. Beck is more of a flavor of the moment…a Joe The Plumber of talk shows if you will.
Brick Oven Bill
Rasmussen 17 September had McCain up by one point.
If you are into conspiracy theories, look at the data. I don’t know what to make of it, but the timing is very odd.
Tim C.
Okay, am I the only one having a hard time telling if B.O.B. is parody or real?
Martin
The concerns about the money markets spread the day before so it was widely contributed to, but mostly it was the hedge funds.
Remember, Lehman died just a few days before. Anyone who had invested with Lehman (with, not in) got locked out. There is no FDIC for investment banks, remember. The money markets lost some expected liquidity and they started to dump other assets starting Monday. The hedge funds got caught in a similar bind and the money markets were one of their most liquid assets, so they pulled money there at the same time the money markets were trying to sort out their positions. Once things started to move, everyone panicked about the funds breaking the buck.
And let’s not forget that AIG had just been taken over a few days before, they had to institute a short sell ban on financials because things were eroding so quickly there.
Try to keep up, Bill…
And the government’s job isn’t to tell us that information. They don’t run the stock market and the stock market isn’t the money market funds market. What you saw was capitalism in action until the government stepped in and slowed everything down, not some nefarious plot.
bago
Lady luck is a he-social ist? Ok.
Martin
I think we’re back into parody territory. Either that or he’s my uncle with Ausbergers. He goes through cycles like this all the time.
John Cole
@Brick Oven Bill: The conspiracy goes deeper than that, Bill!
How much did the Illuminati/George Soros/the Pentaverate have to pay off Nate Silver to make his predictions mirror the outcome of the election rather than what was really happen! Same with his predictions for the size of the convention bounce! The whole thing was a setup!
Just Some Fuckhead
BOB will never be satisfied with the simple truth where an elaborate conspiracy theory can be concocted.
Tax Analyst
Well sure, John, state the obvious. The whole "538" and Nate Silver were part of the Conspiracy. Maybe even the head of it. That’s probably not even his real name. "Baseball statistician". Yeah, right. Do we know if this "Silver" character actually exists? Is he an Amuricun citizun or some Godforsakun forinner? Inquiring minds wanna check his birth certifikit.
#78 – JSF – will this one do?
Brick Oven Bill
The entire financial system unravels the week that McCain regains the lead in the polls.
Coincidence? I don’t know.
But I’d be less into conspiracy theories if the President would divert some of the money that he is spending on his legal defense teams and order a birth certificate. The only reason for him not to produce it is to set up a political trap for the Republicans, and that would be juvenile. That would make him look bad too.
Just Some Fuckhead
I have a sneaking feeling BOB is part of the conspiracy. His well-played role is to make the conspiracy seem like nutter babble so we dismiss it out of hand. Then BAM!, conspiracy wins.
And do I need to point out that CONSPIRACY is a compound word consisting of CONS (conservatives) and PIRACY (looting the treasury) ??
I got my one good eye on you, BOB.
SnarkIntern
@Brick Oven Bill:
Time expired, Bill. I guess we now have to call you Wilhelmina.
Sad, really. You tossed your fragile manhood overboard for a 7th grader’s mistake in logic, and then wouldn’t walk it back.
If you want to spoof, you have to do the work, girl.
KnowadImean?
robertdsc
This.
It’s like sensory overload. I can’t handle the stupid anymore.
Gus
Troll or spoof, BOB can certainly derail a thread. Notice how this one turned into a pissing match about Glenn Beck’s shitty show.
John S.
Uh, that’s not a pissing match – that’s a fact. Glenn Beck’s show is shit, no matter how many times BOB says otherwise.
Regarding the rest of BOB’s ramblings, I think he has truly lost his damn mind. Either that, or the man from the government shot him with a hallucinogenic pellet from the tip of his umbrella while in Panera.
Max
Oh, The Populist? The L.A. Times actually doesn’t confirm BOB’s claim.
Here’s what BOB wrote: "Glenn Beck’s ratings were better than the entire rest of cable TV combined, plus 200,000, yesterday."
The LA Times published this four days ago: "His eponymous 2 p.m. PST program averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers last month — double the number the time slot attracted the previous February and a remarkable amount for the afternoon."
The LA Times has nothing on Beck’s ratings for Monday, March 9.
Neither does anyone else.
200,000 on top of the combined total for ALL other cable channels would be spectacular, if it were true. But there is zero confirmation that it is true.
Chris Johnson
Speaking of pissing, it’s pissing me off that the musings on the fashion of high finance are becoming just as vacuous and ephemeral as the musings of the fashion of Greta, whoever the fuck she is.
SATSQ: Yes, the Dow can surge or tank based entirely on what various stupid or psychotic people think of what Obama said. Note I didn’t say it can tank based on what Obama’s plan is, or what’s gonna happen- it can tank based on what psychotic people THINK about what Obama said.
Because it’s fashion, and the fashion is for Galt flakes draped over a bed of epic FAIL.
The markets are insane, get over it. Just because they can ruin us all doesn’t mean they’re not meaningless and profoundly disconnected from any form of reality…
The Populist
Max, I saw where he quoted that and if it’s not the times, I apologize but I do admit to seeing it.
I am with you on this. Personally I think BoB is a spoof and I just like taking the crap he spews and building cases against the right wing nut-o-sphere.
The Populist
Max, good correction. I only find the 2.2 million. Proof positive that BoB is wrong.
As for me I now slap myself hard on the wrist and move on.
Max
Spoof or not, I wish BOB would stick to his bizarre non-sequitur-filled anecdotes. They appeal to my surrealist leanings.
Also, The Populist, remind me to buy you a virtual beer.
The Populist
The fact that Olberman and Maddow are popular with younger and educated viewers proves to me Beck basically gets out of work trailer park trash and housewives with no clue to watch his show.
The Populist
Thanks Max. I can admit if I screw up. The problem with trolls and self righteous righties is that I spend more time debunking these people than actually conversing with the people I agree with.
Brick Oven Bill
A more complete account of the financial-political timeline. The $550 billion money market scare was on the 15th.
JenJen
Re: Glenn Beck: If he’s had a ratings spike, I say all credit goes to The Colbert Report for endlessly, ruthlessly mocking him. Makes people curious, i.e., "ZOMG this douche really exists? Shut up!"
Still, nobody watched Glenn Beck’s Shitty Show when it was on CNN Headline News, but he’s clearly pulling strong ratings, even in the demo, in his new home over at Fox. I can see where Fox News viewers would enjoy his particular brand of, how you say… entertainment. I had a boss once who would go on and on to all of us about how Beck’s radio show was the funniest damned thing in the history of political comedy and how we just HAD to check it out. She was a nutbar and a fruit-loop, was a horrible leader, constantly said outrageously inappropriate things, and was universally hated by her staff. Having seen a few of his antics now, years later, all I can do when I see him is think of her.
JenJen
@Brick Oven Bill: Don’t know why I’m bothering, other than wicked insomnia, but there were also these other things going on during the time period you’re so interested in… mainly, the Presidential Debates.
McCain was cooked after the first debate (the one he tried to flake out on, mind you). To focus only on "Teh Economee Killed McCain" makes you look like you’re not really a political junkie. Not that that’s a bad thing, you know, not being one.
See also: Tina Fey, Palin Rallies, Couric Interview, and Obama’s unstoppable, masterful ground game. The problem with wingnuts is that they never have anyone within a useful proximity to pipe up with this kind of contradictory, historical information. Puts the Conspiracee in a whole new light.