On MSNBC, Fund falsely claimed "Bush's ratings are up"
SUMMARY: John Fund disputed the assertion of a correlation between "the approval ratings of [President] Bush [and] the ratings of Fox News" by baselessly claiming that "Bush's ratings are up, and Fox [News]'s ratings are down." In fact, while Fox News ratings are indeed down, so are President Bush's.
On the October 3 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund disputed producer/director Robert Greenwald's assertion of a correlation between "the approval ratings of [President] Bush [and] the ratings of Fox News" by baselessly claiming that "Bush's ratings are up, and Fox [News]'s ratings are down." In fact, while Fox News' ratings are indeed down, the two most recent polls, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted September 30-October 2, and a CNN poll conducted September 29-October 2, both showed President Bush's approval rating declining from 42 percent to 39 percent. Moreover, Bush's approval rating in those polls is no better than a year ago.
Both polls were released prior to the live 9 p.m. broadcast of Scarborough Country. Wall Street Journal reporter John Harwood wrote about the "decline in Mr. Bush's job approval rating to 39% from 42% earlier this month" in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on the Wall Street Journal Online at 7:19 p.m. Host Joe Scarborough cited a question from "[a] new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that just came out tonight" at the top of the show. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider reported on the 4 p.m. ET broadcast of the October 3 edition of CNN's The Situation Room that "[a] CNN poll taken this weekend shows President Bush's job approval rating is 39 percent, slightly lower than last week."
Fund's assertion that "Fox [News]'s ratings are down," however, is correct. As the Associated Press reported on October 1, "[v]iewership over the first eight months of the year was down 5 percent compared to 2005, with a steeper 13 percent decline in prime-time, according to Nielsen Media Research." By comparison, Bush's approval rating in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was 40 percent in September 2005 and 39 percent in October 2005. Bush's approval rating in the CNN poll was 40 percent in a September 16-18, 2005, sample and 42 percent in an October 21-23, 2005, sample.
From the October 3 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country:
FUND: This is the number one news network. It has double the viewers of CNN. How can that be a disaster?
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, and if it's --
FUND: Look, the Internet is the threat -- the Internet is the threat to cable news. More and more people are going to the Internet. That's what all of the cable channels have to watch for, because it's a lot easier to avoid commercials and ads on the Internet.
GREENWALD: Take the ratings -- take the ratings, approval ratings of Bush, take the ratings of Fox News, and there's a wonderful graph connection between the two of them. It's folly to deny that they are not in freefall. I mean, [Fox News chairman and CEO Roger] Ailes is accepting it. That's why he's raising hell and going about doing something.
SCARBOROUGH: John Fund, why are the ratings down?
FUND: Bush's ratings are up, and Fox's ratings are down, so I don't see any correlation this past month or so. It doesn't track.
Look, the bottom line here is, cable news has a challenge from the Internet. And I have to tell you, as for the management styles of Roger Ailes, Joe, you went from one of the industries that has, I think, permanent job tenure, Congress, to television. You know the suits can fire you if they don't like your haircut. That's television. Everyone does that.
SCARBOROUGH: It is -- it is -- listen, Roger Ailes, he can run my campaign any day of the week.
We have established this before.
Plus Bush is not running in 08, who cares how popular the idiot is.
We care because it indicates disatisfaction with his policies -- policies Republicans have been promoting and backing consistently.
after all
Even Joe was not merely admitting but asserting that his party was dead in the water for October, and the only issue was it both houses or just Congress. We'll see. Wish you could have seen his face and expression during the screen transistion from the conclusion of Olberman's special piece ([link to www.msnbc.msn.com] to his show. Pale, sallow, stunned. Perhaps even moved by the most articulate of the progressive voices.
And freedom is on the march!
The War in Iraq is going swimmingly.
And cigarettes are good for you!
The GOP was hoping that the falling price of gasoline would be a big boost to the party. They anticipated a jump in the polls based on this, and sent out the talking points. (Note: They took no blame for the price spiking upwards over the past several years ..."just market forces at work"... but want full credit from voters for the decline.) I guess they're amazed at how little traction the falling price got. With the debacle in Iraq getting noisier, the Foley mess, and the whole sleazy spectacle of this Neocon power grab gone awry, they're very concerned that the election might go so bad even Diebold can't save them.
Excellent point! The Republicans squelched complaints about soaring prices with the old claim of "free market forces at work" then take credit for falling prices as proof of Bush economic policies. I place this in the same category as claim that the "tax cuts are working" because our deficit was only the 4th highest ever, not the highest ever. With the standards set so low (for Bush, certainly not for Clinton), I can see how that would garner praise as "progress".
I've already seen one of those annoying "W" stickers on the San Diego - Coronado Bay bridge a few weeks ago . . . only this one was different: it read "W 'o8" . . . and I guess anytime your ratings go from 37 to 39 percent, is cause for celebration in some quarters.