Dots...

Economic Gloom a Big Hurdle for McCain

It really is the economy, stupid! Economic models that have correctly predicted the winner of almost all post-war U.S. presidential elections say recession fears will secure a victory for Barack Obama in November.

If U.S. economic growth continues at a tepid pace, John McCain will likely attract less than 50 percent of the vote in November, according to analysts. [snip]

He finds that U.S. presidential elections are well-predicted by just two fundamental forces: the weighted average per capita growth of real disposable income and the number of U.S. military deaths in foreign combat...

[the media's emphasis on the former and comparable ignoring of the latter is just coincidence]

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ABC: Treats Rise in Consumer Confidence as Bad News

When is an increase in consumer confidence bad news? When ABC reports it.

Network anchor George Stephanopoulos led off the news cast with this gloom-and-doom teaser: "Terrible Tuesday. Inflation surges. Stocks dive. And consumer confidence nears a record low."

But Stephanopoulos left out a key detail: consumer confidence increased according to the network's own measure. "U.S. overall consumer confidence rose last week, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday," the August 19 Dow Jones Newswires reported.

ABC never mentioned that in its report.

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