Patterico's Pontifications

9/1/2007

Newspaper Awards according to Me

Filed under: General — DRJ @ 9:55 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

If the print and online news industry doesn’t already have the Overblown Rhetoric Awards, they should have … and I nominate this article in the following categories:

In the “Most Inflammatory First Paragraph” category:

“The maelstrom engulfing the US housing market and threatening to throw millions onto the streets is soaring up the agenda in the race for the country’s most prestigious address, the White House.”

In a joint nomination in the “Best Use of Overblown Metaphor – by a Journalist” and “Best Use of Overblown Metaphor – by an Interviewee” categories, this two-fer:

“The crisis, fueled by the so-called sub-prime mortgages granted to those with risky credit histories, attacks right at the heart of the American dream of home ownership.

Democratic Party presidential hopeful Barack Obama warned in the Financial Times last week that it was “more than a temporary blip in our economic progress, it is a cancer that threatens to spread with devastating impact to housing and to our economy as a whole.”

In the “Best Insertion of a Natural or Environmental Catastrophe” category:

“For New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, also hoping to snatch the Democratic Party nomination, “the credit crisis is the Katrina of the financial markets,” referring to the 2005 hurricane which devastated New Orleans.”

The byline on this is AFP which I think is Agence France Press. The French are creative and emotional, you know, so maybe I should cut them some slack. Then again, maybe I should consider a “Best Overblown Rhetoric by a Foreign News Agency” category …

12 Responses to “Newspaper Awards according to Me”

  1. This is the same press outlet that said, “The only moon landing in history is NASA’s Apollo expedition in 1968.” in an article about a planned Russian trip to the moon. Ignorant and emotional, sounds like most of the MSM to me.

    Bill M (ee2ae1) — 9/2/2007 @ 4:48 am

  2. Hmmm…this would be the first cancer/hurricane to be caused by the inability to do math.

    Pablo (99243e) — 9/2/2007 @ 5:33 am

  3. Ergo global warming causes cancer. (AP)

    Robert (0e7dad) — 9/2/2007 @ 6:47 am

  4. Horrors, these folks may have to, everyone sit down, rent an apartment!!

    Or get a second job. Disconnect the cable TV, eat macaroni and cheese for dinner, cancel the cellphone.

    Bloody heartless capitalism under Bushco at work again.

    SMG

    SteveMG (7fcaea) — 9/2/2007 @ 8:38 am

  5. The article seems to imply that there are fewer homes available to satisfy the American dream of homeownership. But that is not true. Just because there are more foreclsures doesn’t mean there is a reduction in total homes or even a reduction in homeownership. Those homes will now be satisfying the American dreams of people who can actually afford them. (And a lower price after foreclsure is certainly part of the house being affordable to someone else.)

    Mike S (d3f5fd) — 9/2/2007 @ 9:09 am

  6. The WASHINGTON COMPOST,the l.a. AND NEW YORK SLIMES,SIME and NEWSREEK AND THE OTHER LIBERAL RAGS ONLY AWARD THOSE REPORTERS WHO TELL THE LOST FABRCATIONS

    krazy kagu (fb44c4) — 9/2/2007 @ 10:49 am

  7. oh no! I rent! It’s the end of the world!

    Dustin (aba75b) — 9/2/2007 @ 2:01 pm

  8. …attacks right at the heart of the American dream of home ownership.

    Or at least the “right” to flip condos or fixer uppers for large profits.

    Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 9/2/2007 @ 4:16 pm

  9. And the Jayson Blair Honorary Award goes to. . .

    Vermont Neighbor (b3bbb4) — 9/2/2007 @ 9:07 pm

  10. Via Instapundit, others agree the foreign markets are overreacting in the subprime mortgage area:

    The Bundesbank president said that the market had completely over-reacted to the credit losses in the US subprime mortgage sector.

    “What we are seeing at the moment is a total overreaction,” he said. “There is no overall problem in terms of solvency – it is one of liquidity.” He said the challenge for central banks – which cannot supply liquidity directly to the non-bank sector – was to help banks absorb the influx of assets onto their balance sheets.

    I’m not minimizing the losses felt by some in the US credit market but the rhetoric in this area seems over-the-top.

    DRJ (bfe07e) — 9/2/2007 @ 9:27 pm

  11. DRJ, all those examples need dramatic music accompaniment.

    You know…duh-duh-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

    Paul (09c70a) — 9/3/2007 @ 3:58 pm

  12. Just a note to everyone that may think homeowners facing forclosure are deadbeats. Ive been in my home for 20 years made my payments on time until an illness.
    Due to the illness I was not able to work. Due to the fact I am self employed I can not collect unemployment. My wife works but does not make much not enough to cover the mortgage.
    Not everyone is a deadbeat or stretched themselves beyond their means.

    Mark (b9167e) — 1/1/2008 @ 2:47 pm


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