As the Dow Jones dipped below 7,000, it’s worth remembering that formerly conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan (for a while with Time magazine, now with The Atlantic) touted how "grown-up" Barack Obama would restore calm in the markets. From the October 17, 2008 Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio, just after Sullivan claimed Gordon Brown and Obama were calming while Bush was not:
Bush at this point, I think largely because of Katrina and Iraq, is unable to use the authority of the office to calm people or the markets, and I think until this election is resolved, the markets will not stabilize. They need to know there is a grown-up back in the White House.
Two days later, Sullivan went on the set of the Chris Matthews Show and declared the McCain campaign a bust on fiscal conservatism: "It's been all tactics and no strategy. He’s supposed to be a fiscal conservative, but in fact he will add more to the debt than Obama will."
In Sullivan’s last appearance on the Sunday Matthews show, on February 15, he wildly denounced the conservatives for daring to oppose his hero Obama’s socialist deficit-spending plans.
After all the shilling for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in the last few years, the idea that anyone would think this man is a "conservative" at this late date, or a reliable pundit on anything other than sticking to the Chris Matthews line on Obama, is mind-boggling.




















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Mr. Sullivan.............for your.....
March 3, 2009 - 12:57 ET by BEGRUNTcomplicity to this travesty.....I hope your losing a fortune right now.......but you probably pulled all your assets out of the market because you knew this would happen. You, Sir, should be tared and feathered and run out of town on a rail......Lying hypocrite!!!!!
"Blago got in touch with his inner dirt bag"
Dennis Miller
This idea that the
March 3, 2009 - 12:58 ET by SmartypantsThis idea that the economy was so tumultuous under GWB is absurd. For most of Bush's term, the economy was doing very well--even in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Enron and WorldCom scandals (among others). The Democrats have successfully convienced the country that Bush's economic policies destroyed the economy, and so we must now turn away from free-market capitalism. This is wrong on two levels: First, GWB was not a Reagan conservative, so his policies should not serve as a strike against true economic conservatism. Second, Bush's policies had little to do with the meltdown. It was something that was decades in the making and he, unfortunately, happened to be president when it happened. Leave it to liberals to impune capitalism based completely on erroneous reasoning.
"The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet."
Just shoot me...
March 3, 2009 - 13:00 ET by dborschjr68No, really. Someone just shoot me in the head, and end my suffering. Or give me a lobotomy, so I will be on the same level as liberals.
This is the kind of article that Newsbusters was created for. It's a rhetorical question, of course, but doesn't the normal everyday American see the crap that the MSM says and does? Is America this bamboozled?
The MSM never ceases to amaze me with their arrogance and gall.
Long live the Republic! Conservatives unite!
Yes America is that
March 3, 2009 - 13:11 ET by PeskyDaneYes America is that bamboozled... for the moment. What I find stunning is this Orwellian absurdity of Dems being referred to as grownups. I guess we've always been at war with Eastasia. The comma comittee will be meeting today.
DBO... well, today Obama
March 3, 2009 - 14:49 ET by celatorDBO... well, today Obama said to not pay much attention to how the stock market is doing. "It bobs up and down every day".
Holy cow! This guy is an economic genius! The market bobs up and down every day. That's it! Why couldn't the rest of us figure that out??? And here we were assuming the democrats' economic policies have been killing the market for the past few months. Boy, are we stupid.
Thank you Obama, King of all you can see, once again your amazing wisdom has informed us all. We are so foolish. How can we thank you for helping us understand these difficult issues? Please take more and more of our money. Here, I empty my pockets for you.
/sarc off
Mickey Mouse is one
of "Satan's soldiers" and must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric Sheikh
Muhammad Munajid. - Daily Telegraph (UK), 9/15/08
Hope
March 3, 2009 - 13:04 ET by KC MulvilleThey don't understand conservativism, so how would they know who represents it?
There's also a flip side to your observation, Tim. We should discount the people (like Sulivan) whose predictions turned out wrong. On the flip side, we should also start listening to people whose predictions turned out correct. There are lots of people (like most of you guys at NewsBusters) who've been shouting that Obama is not up to the job, and the media dismissed them.
Obama is not interested in calming the markets
March 3, 2009 - 13:13 ET by R D HelmHe will wait until it hits 2000, or less, then he will put his hideous Cap-and-Trade plan in place to make damn sure it doesn't recover.
Ever.
-Dave
Our clueless political leaders are about to drive us all over a cliff. The time to HITM is now-before we go over.
this is what happens when
March 3, 2009 - 13:17 ET by Chris Normanthis is what happens when you irrationally hate one guy so much (or jump on the lynching wagon) that you think the other guy - any guy - just will have to be better and make that prediction. So much for that theory, huh, Mr. Sullivan?
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Please Do More Of These Articles
March 3, 2009 - 13:25 ET by socal4patrickPlease keep playing back these "pundits" sage wisdom, especially those who pretend to be conservative. They (and we) need to be reminded everyday how absurd they were so we don't do it again.
"If you want to save the world you must be willing to make others sacrifice" ....Dogbert the green consultant
The problem is that these
March 3, 2009 - 13:33 ET by Chris NormanThe problem is that these trees only fall in conservative forests...
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
I just heard Odumbo say............
March 3, 2009 - 13:43 ET by BEGRUNTon Rush's show that the "dow is like a tracking poll.....with fits and starts....we dont base our economic policy on polls"....I almost fell out of my chair.....I he this galacticly stupid???? Good lord he has NO clue how the markets work. Does he realize that this "poll" has people losing millions of dollars????? Man child, ignorant, FOOL!!!!
"Blago got in touch with his inner dirt bag"
Dennis Miller
BEG,
March 3, 2009 - 13:55 ET by R D Helm"Does he realize that this "poll" has people losing millions of dollars????? Man child, ignorant, FOOL!!!"
He knows, but he doesn't care.
Its all part of "the plan."
-Dave
Our clueless political leaders are about to drive us all over a cliff. The time to HITM is now-before we go over.
Dow dips below 7K....
March 3, 2009 - 13:46 ET by MortimerFunny, how now that there is a "grown-up" (Obama) at the helm the numbers are going the wrong way!?!
9034 on January 2nd, and as of yesterday 6763...five weeks and another 4.25% down the pipe....
Bush's fault...I know...but how come the numbers ain't going the way they should?
The new admin has thrown our money at this problem for the past five weeks, is there still 'hope' for 'change'? (#)
Almost all of Obama's "porkulus" spending is for social (ist) programs, and nearly all of the "tax cuts" were devoted to income support programs instead of incentives to work or invest.
Is this is the kind of leadership America was looking for?
(#) [Use of super-duper political buzz words = 2 points]
A man should be upright, not be kept upright - Marcus Aurelius
Well, let's not jump the
March 3, 2009 - 14:04 ET by moderncommentaries83Well, let's not jump the gun here.
When the market crashes and flatlines, it'll certainly be "calm."
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
Poor Andrew
March 3, 2009 - 14:20 ET by StarAZAnyone can be wrong--but as I always say--if you want to be a know-it-all, you better KNOW IT ALL!
This Obama as grownup stuff is pretty tired, isn't it? This is a man in his 40s who always got grants, scholarships, grandparental help, neighbor help, slumlord help, Soros help, and Machne help. He never held a job until now.
Obama: Opportunity In Market Today
March 3, 2009 - 14:35 ET by JDWWhere?
Since the market has been wiped out it will take years to rebound, maybe too many for too many people to utilize capital gains losses. What happens to retirees at retirement?
JDW
DAILY WAVE
The government works for me, not the other way around
Par for Matthews
March 3, 2009 - 14:40 ET by slickwillie2001This is emblematic of msnbc, inviting in as some kind of honored guest the host of a homosexual-with-AIDS far-left hate-blog. How much lower can they get? Do you think he discussed the leg-tingle phenomenon with Matthews? Maybe Matthews asked him for his insights on these feelings for a man that he has never had before?
I think most Americans can agree...
March 3, 2009 - 15:32 ET by OxyCon...that Andrew Sullivan is the biggest moron in all of American punditry. He should really go back to Britain and practice his idiocy there.
I seem to recall....
March 3, 2009 - 15:57 ET by Darwin Akbar...that on election day (or the Day After), the market went up about 50 points, and George Stepahnopolous crowed that this was evidence that "the market loves Obama!"
(I recall reading that here on NB).
What say you now, Georgie? Better yet, what does Rham want you to say?
Sullivan is a bonafide idiot
March 3, 2009 - 16:03 ET by Adam_MEI look forward to seeing him on Bill Maher's hatefest in the near future trying to sell Obama as a fiscal conservative and the GOP as a bunch of irresponsible sellouts given what's happened since The One was inaugurated.
The dude has no credibility left. He hitched his wagon to Obama and the Dems because he bought into the perpetuated myth that anyone but Bush would be a drastic improvement. And now that we can see that clearly isn't the case(and that Bush suddenly seems like Lincoln compared to this current bunch), they'll never admit they were wrong. They'll go down with the sinking ship.
Andrew Sullivan is a liar!!!!
March 3, 2009 - 16:58 ET by Rod PatrickAnd that's a fact.
Andrew Sullivan is a reprehensible fool
March 3, 2009 - 19:18 ET by sms5217I rarely comment on a daily basis here at NB's. However, the subject of Andrew Sullivan is one of great importance.
In short, he is a reprehensible, untrustable, and wholly evil man, er, what ever he is.
His one and only subject of interest is gay marriage. Once the Republicans and Bush were against it, that is the daily "dish" about Andrew, and how he viciously turned against Bush.
He sees everything thru that prism, and in the name of that, has thrown all other common sense and common purpose with conservatives out the window.
What Sullivan fails to realize is that this moron is ruining the country, is no messiah, but just a useless garden variety liberal nitwit with no creativity except the creativity to lie, cheat, and steal.
Trial lawyers are the scum of the earth
Sullivan confuses SOPHISTICATES with ADULTS.
March 3, 2009 - 20:56 ET by ekslibObama knows how to act cool, but Obama has lots of immature (and even evil) ideas.
Obama has funneled money to--
1. Racists - like Revs. Wright and Pfleger
2. Marxist/Anarchists - like Bill Ayers
3. Advocates for subprime mortgages - like ACORN
4. Slum builders - like Rezko
5. Voter fraud activists - like ACORN.
Obama pretends to serve the public, but he is really lining the pockets of the "pets" in his clique.
Sullivan doesn't have the
March 4, 2009 - 09:00 ET by HockeyKidSullivan doesn't have the first clue, never mind conservative bona fides.
As for Uhbama, his "calming" influence has reduced my discretionary stock portfolio by 52% since he locked up the Dem nomination. Now THAT's leadership you can count on--all the way to zero.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me