Bachmann and Fox News Demonstrate How Idiotic/Paranoid Wingnut/Teabagger Rumors Start

[BurtWorm]

Caught by hilzoy of Obsidion Wings:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/03/press-conference-minor-notes.html

Press Conference: Minor Notes

by hilzoy
<Y>ou might have noted a question from Fox that began:

"QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. President. Thank you. Taking this economic debate a bit globally, senior Chinese officials have publicly expressed an interest in an international currency. This is described by Chinese specialists as a sign that they are less confident than they used to be in the value and the reliability of the U.S. dollar. European countries have resisted your calls to spend more on economic stimulus."

Obama didn't answer this bit in his initial response, so the Fox reporter followed up:

"QUESTION: Is there a need for a global currency?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I don’t believe that there’s a need for a global currency."

If you're a real news junkie, you might have seen this video of Michele Bachmann questioning Geithner and Bernanke today (and if you haven't, by all means watch it: it would be incredibly funny if it weren't so depressing.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9DgMG-_6Ls&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewashingtonmonthly%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

At about 2:35 Bachmann asks:

"Would you categorically renounce the United States moving away from the dollar and going to a global currency as suggested this morning by China and also by Russia. Mr. Secretary?

Geithner: I would, yes.

Bachmann: And the Federal Reserve Chair?

Bernanke: I would also."

You might be wondering: what is this global currency business? As best I can tell, this is what Fox and Bachmann are talking about:

"China's call for a new international reserve currency may signal its concern at the dollar's weakness and ambitions for a leadership role at next week’s Group of 20 summit, economists said."

Of course, their question wouldn't make sense even if China and Russia had called for the adoption of a new global currency. If they did, we'd just answer 'no', and that would be the end of it. But that's not what Russia, China, and "Khazakistan" called for. Somehow, Michele Bachmann and the Fox reporter seem to have missed that little word 'reserve'. Calling for a new reserve currency is not remotely the same as calling for the US or any other country to abandon the dollar and adopt something else as its currency. It's just saying: maybe countries should consider holding their reserves in a different currency.

You can almost hear them thinking: currency, reserve currency: what's the difference? Sigh.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. This idiot is on a committee?

Jeeesus.......f'n.....christ.

[NewJeffCT]

3. Doesn't everybody get to be on a committee somewhere?

I thought?

[NewJeffCT]

2. Bachmann would be shocked I tell you, shocked

to find out there is a difference. Heck, most people still think the Chinese yuan is tied to the dollar, even though they switched several years ago to tie it to a basket of currencies (including the dollar).

[BurtWorm]

4. More on this specious winger fear from Think Progress

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/25/from-drudge-to-fox/

Earlier this week, China’s Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan suggested the need for a “super-sovereign reserve currency,” a move most passed off as China trying to “flex some muscle.” And yet, within days, Fox News’ Major Garrett was demanding whether President Obama supported a “global currency.”

So how did a story that has effectively no basis in reality — and has nothing to do with a global currency — end up as one of the few questions posed to President Obama last night? It started with a blaring banner on the instigator of conservative and media memes, the Drudge Report:



Within hours, right-wing fanatic Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was demanding that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledge to never adopt a “global currency.” Soon, Fox News’ resident conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck was ranting that a U.N.-imposed global currency was the first step toward world government:

– BACHMANN: I’m wondering, would you categorically renounce the United States moving away from the dollar and going to a global currency?

– BECK: And now the U.N. is saying, you know what, we should have a global currency. It’s also a movement to tie the entire globe together into one big government.

The circle was complete when, three hours after Beck’s show, Fox News’ White House Correspondent Major Garrett asked the president whether he supported a move to a “global currency.” Watch a compliation:

Of course, the relatively benign idea of a new reserve currency is very different than a “global currency.” Though some conservative outlets are hyperventilating over this morning’s comments from Geithner signaling that he was “open” to considering China’s comments, Geithner “add several forceful promises” that the U.S. would not move to any sort of “global currency,” and emphasized that he did not foresee a change in the dollar’s credibility.

[opihimoimoi]

6. We are in good hands....we shouldn't worry too much...Bush is gone

[LeftinOH]

5. Obama said: "Yes, comrades, we are soon to adopt the Chinese yuan and scrap the dollar."

OK- thats not what he said.. but thats exactly what they want to hear: "Justify our fears!"