Fox's Gallagher suggested Obama speech caused Dow to drop -- but Fox's own graphics show absurdity of suggestion
SUMMARY: On The Live Desk, Trace Gallagher cherry-picked numbers from the Dow Jones industrial average to suggest that President Obama's address to the National Conference of State Legislatures had caused the Dow to drop. But according to information posted on-screen on Fox News, the Dow actually went up slightly during Obama's speech.
During the March 20 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk, co-host Trace Gallagher cherry-picked numbers from the Dow Jones industrial average to suggest that President Obama's address to the National Conference of State Legislatures had caused the Dow to drop. After Obama's speech, Gallagher said: "[H]e was talking about the economy. It's important to point out that before the president began talking -- we don't know if there's any correlation -- the Dow was up 28. The Dow, by the way, is now down 28 points." But according to information posted on-screen on Fox News, the Dow actually went up slightly during Obama's speech. When Obama took to the podium, the Dow was down 34.25 points. When he left the podium, the Dow was down 29.39 points.
When Obama took to the podium at 12:57 p.m. ET, Fox News displayed the following Dow information:
After Obama left the podium at 1:08 p.m. ET, Fox News displayed the following Dow information:
As Gallagher was making his comments following Obama's speech, Fox News displayed the following Dow information:
Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented Fox News' penchant for using Dow figures to cast aspersions on progressives.
From the March 20 edition of Fox News' Happening Now and the March 20 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk with Martha and Trace:
JANE SKINNER (co-host): All right. You're taking a look at a live picture of Vice President Joe Biden there waiting for President Obama to speak. They're going to be speaking to this group of state legislatures -- basically representatives from the legislatures and lawmakers about this -- that massive stimulus bill that passed Congress; talk about where exactly your tax dollars are going and how it's being spent.
OBAMA: Thank you, guys. Thank you.
SKINNER: And right on cue, let's take a listen to President Obama.
OBAMA: Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you so much. Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you so much. It is wonderful to see so many of you, a lot of old friends who I saw on the campaign trail and had a chance to meet all across the country, and I'm glad we're now gathered together to try to actually get something done.
[...]
OBAMA: And while I do not know how long the road to recovery will be, I do know that we're in a fight right now to get this economy back on track. And if we act with the same sense of responsibility that Harry Truman showed during wartime all those years ago, and if we build a partnership that stretches from the State House to the White House, then we'll turn this economy around, and the American people will emerge from this crisis stronger than we were before. So thank you very much. I'm looking forward to working with you. Thank you, guys. Thank you, thank you.
Now, before I start taking some questions, I want to bring up to the podium here [North Carolina State] Speaker Joe Hackney [D], who is wearing his Tar Heel blue today. I was entirely objective in filing out my college brackets, much to the consternation of [Obama aide] Reggie Love from Duke. But, Joe's not here to talk basketball; he's here to speak on your behalf. Joe, great to see you.
MARTHA MacCALLUM (co-host): All right, welcome everybody. You are at The Live Desk. I'm Martha MacCallum.
GALLAGER: I'm Trace Gallagher. The president there talking with the -- well, it's a conference of state legislators there. Of course, he was talking about the economy. It's important to point out that before the president began talking -- we don't know if there's any correlation -- the Dow was up 28. The Dow, by the way, is now down 28 points. We'll keep our eyes focused on that.
I just wish MSNBC would call on its sister CNBC. They have not and have proved what a tool they are.
Please look up the word "non sequitur."
Or the two words "non sequitur..."
Casey missed his cue. He was supposed to come in at this point and tell me to look up the word "pwned."
Just responding to captfoster, he brought up MSNBC. If you had issues with MSNBC being brought into the conversation, I wish you would be fair and bring up "non sequitur" to him also.
Why are you so hellbent on proving to everyone what a miserable person you are, and how anti-MSNBC you are for no good reason?
MSNBC calling CNBC to account for CNBC's behavior has nothing to do with this. This is not about general attacks on people. It's about a specific false attack by Fox on Obama, and how that furthers the conservative agenda. Your point? Oh, that's right, you don't have one.
captfoster brought up MSNBC first , and I responded. Take issue with him. Otherwise spare me your sermons.
MSNBC, NBC News, CBS, ABC, FOX are all part of the Right Wing Media. If you don't see it your blind.
Yep go right on thinkin the ol prez has nothing to do with Dow movements....been makin hay ever since Hilary dropped out sellin evrithin short....just y'all leave oH Bama alone you hear.....
I agree. The Dow has been tanking ever since bush took hold of the reigns, and now that Obama and the most ethical administration of the century passed the most awesome stimulus bill since FDR the DOW hit bottom and has started climbing from it's low of 6500 (+/- some) to over 7200 now. Obama certainly deserves all the credit for that historical turn around!
and your grammer and butchering of the english language is nothing short of amazing.
I found one example of them doing that, not multiple ones. And it was on Newsbusters. Is that where you get your talking points, Caseysprings?
President Bush tried to reassure the nation today that the economy is strong enough to weather the current crisis, but by the time Bush stopped speaking nine minutes later, the market had dropped another 107 points.
The president's encouraging words have historically been able to boost the market, but in the current economic crisis, Bush's ability to instill confidence has been mixed at best.
Speaking after the Dow opened down 200 points this morning and as the numbers continued to drop, this morning's address marked the 10th time the president has spoken on the issue since news of the bailout plan first surfaced.
Following the previous nine times the president specifically addressed the economic crisis, the market ended the day on an upturn on five occasions and closed down the other four.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Economy/story?id=6002792&page=1
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2008/10/10/abcnews-com-links-dow-dip-bush-speech
I found one example of them doing that
And that example makes the opposite point: In the Bush case, the market is dropping, he "tries to reassure," but the market keeps dropping. Coupled with the last sentence, it comes across as emphasizing a disconnect between the president's words and the market's performance (up 5 times, down 5 times is pretty much a demonstration of "random").
Fox, on the other hand, hinted Obama caused the drop. Is Fox thus asserting that Obama is a far more influential president than Bush was?
In either event, what I'm really wondering is, if "we don't know if there's any correlation," why was it "important to point out" the supposed change in the Dow?
(As the saying goes, "some questions need only be asked.")
Well, the ABC story did say "The president's encouraging words have historically been able to boost the market..."
They did try to link the President's words to the movement on the Dow, and say it used to be a predictor of sorts, or at least they thought it was.
Caseysprings apparently won't come back and defend the indefensible. He'll just come back next week and spout similar nonsense and pretend that his points haven't been refuted in the recent past.
The point is that other networks aren't doing it repeatedly, and it's not a defense of Fox doing it even if others are.
Why should I defend Bush? He was a disaster. I just don't feel Presidents speeches should be played on TV while on the upper right corner shows the DOW. What FOX did to the President was a disgrace. And as for not coming back and "Defending the indefensible" sorry, some of us have lives and do things with our familes on Saturday.
What am I spouting that is so bad? That FOX is wrong for lying about the President? Get a new line and stop smearing me. Idiot.
They did try to link the President's words to the movement on the Dow
That simply is not how it reads. It reads as emphasizing that Bush's words did <i>not</i> have an effect on the market, even saying the market had closed up and down almost the same number of times after previous speeches.
In context, the statement "The president's encouraging words have historically been able to boost the market" invites the addendum "but not any more." That is, again , the opposite of saying he <i>caused</i> the market to drop those additional 107 points and thus again the opposite of Fox's implication about Obama.
The networks used to do that to Bush also
Huh? I don't recall the any networks suggesting in any seriousness that the simple act of Bush giving a speech made the dow drop. As to how he managed to detroy the entrie economy? (Which would cause the Dow to drop) Well... they'll be analysingf that in business schools for years to come. History will not be kind to this administration.
I always remember in the fall when idiot Bush would be talking , the networks would show the Dow droping. CNN was doing this all the time.
Spell check- Dropping
One example from October from ABC News. The Dow was droping because of Bush policies , not because he was speaking.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Economy/story?id=6002792&page=1
********fox newsflash******
obama says good morning, dow drops.
Close, wookie--They could show a picture of a cat, call it a dog, and the zombies would scream "Obama's a socialist!"...
Love the imagery, POW. I have often tried to imagine slugs like the ones on Faux sitting around the kitchen table discussing their work-day. If they met their wives at a RNC that would explain their not having to excuse their behavior or views. The "princess" would share the same "values" and the children, not encouraged to think, would be all too willing to carry on the "honored" tradition. Brrrrr! I just gave myself the willies.
Oh how strange, no mention of Obama and the stock market when the DOW was going up, but when it goes down, it's Obama's speech.
OKAY MR. GALLAGHER, I'LL PLAY PRETEND WITH YOU
Remember, Bill, we're talking about Fox News and Fox News watchers here, so I think we can take this as read...
If Media actually wants to matter... please do have the President speak from radio and please do not have Sec. Geithner ever make an appearance on t.v. Everytime they do appear on t.v., the market falls. It does take 15 minutes to occur though.
OK Mr. Gallagher, I got my steel caps on, now just bend-over and 'll give you a drop in your Dow...
LOL
Please connect the DOW going up to President Obama's campaign speeches. Isn't the campaign over? How long to blame President Bush?
Just when you think the idiots at Fox can't delve anymore into self-parody, they beat all expectations.