When good news is bad news for the right-wing media
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
Consumed by Obama Derangement Syndrome, the GOP Noise Machine finds itself in the unusual position of now rooting against the U.S. We saw the nuttiness explode, for instance, when America lost out on its quest for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which `wingers cheered. And when the President of the United States won the Nobel Prize, which `wingers jeered.
A cornerstone to the right-wing's obsessive campaign against Obama and the Democrats (and America) is to latch onto this idea that the economy is being driven off a cliff, which means that basically the conservative media are now rooting for bad news. Right-wing pundits almost seem to be hoping for higher unemployment numbers, which is why they were so busy last Friday trying to explain why the 162,000 new jobs added to payrolls was a bad thing. (Or not exactly a great thing.)
Well, it's stories like this from today's Wall Street Journal that must really test the fortitude of conservative pundits everywhere. It's days like this that the crew at Fox News has to put on their game face and hope that some bad news is lurking around the corner.
WSJ headline:
Markets Approach Milestone Levels
Lede [emphasis added]:
Stock and bond markets flirted with milestones on Monday, as the outlook for economic growth brightened following a string of reports showing signs of a pickup in the labor market, service sector and housing.
...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came tantalizingly close to reaching 11000, and at one point was within 12 points, before closing at 10973.55, up 46.48. It was the highest close for the blue-chip stock index since Sept. 26, 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Courage, Fox News. Courage.
UPDATED: What would Ronald Reagan say about this conservative trend to root against America?