A New, More Prosperous Black Friday For the New Democratic-Controlled Age

Tonwhall.com ^ | 11/25/06 | Mary Katharine Ham

[LdSentinal]

It's sounding like Black Friday shopping was big this year.

I ventured out last year and bought myself a pair of jeans. Yeah, I know. Bah humbug, right? But I'm not ready to shop for anyone else this early in the season.

Early reports last year seemed to indicate that the season would be good, and it was, but a lot of news outlets did their darndest to hide the good under gloomy headlines and misleading ledes on this day a year ago. But now that the New Age of Prosperity in a Time of Democratic Control TM has dawned, the stories look very different on this day after Black Friday, 2006. Let's compare and contrast.

New York Post, 2005:

Big Sales Lure Reluctant Holiday Shoppers

Several major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Macy's, as well as mall operator Taubman Centers Inc., estimated they drew bigger crowds for the official holiday season launch than last year. Sure, there were a lot of shoppers, but they were very reluctant.

New York Post, 2006: Stores Score Big as Shopping Season Starts Off With a Bang

Millions of crazed Christmas shoppers stormed retailers across the city and the nation yesterday to take advantage of the wee-morning store hours and spectacular sales - making it one of the strongest starts to the holiday season in years.

The National Retail Federation is predicting that sales this holiday season will rise a whopping 5 percent from last year - to $457 billion...

It was absolute madness as those shoppers, armed with lists, circulars and cash to burn, lined up outside stores in the city before dawn to snag the cheapest deals on electronics, toys and clothes.

Houston Chronicle, 2005:

That Black Cloud Over Retail Has Brightened

An uptick of 7.2 percent in consumer spending in September and October, combined with falling prices at the pump, is providing "strong momentum" for the holidays, said Scott Krugman, spokesman for the National Retail Federation. Because, you know, what's an economic headline without "black cloud"?

Houston Chronicle, 2006: Retailers Hope Black Friday Means Plenty of Holiday Green

Nationally, retailers will see up to 137 million shoppers during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. The trade group forecasts holiday season sales to be $457 billion, an increase of 5 percent over last year. Same good news, very different headline.

Baltimore Sun, 2005:

The Baltimore Sun says, "although retailers face a challenging economy, early reports yesterday indicated a strong first day for the official shopping season." Baltimore Sun, 2006: Holiday Shopping Starts With a Roar

You might as well put exclamation points on this kind of copy:

The holiday shopping season kicked off in typical frenzied fashion yesterday with pre-dawn bargains, midnight store openings, clogged Internet sites and long lines, fueling a cultural tradition that helps to set the tone for how retailers finish out the year.

Early reports by retail executives predicted strong sales yesterday. And the industry hoped that showing would continue throughout the weekend, when 137 million people are expected to visit stores. How quickly that "challenging economy" has disappeared since the Democrats took control, huh?

L.A. Times, 2005:

The L.A. Times has more on the "challenging economy":

Broad stock market indexes posted their seventh consecutive daily advance Friday, eking out small gains in a half-day session on Wall Street. The buying was enough to lift several indexes to multiyear highs, building on November's strong rally in share prices.

I would humbly suggest that several indices being pushed to multiyear highs is perhaps the lede instead of the "small gains" they "eked" out.

L.A. Times, 2006: Getting the Masses in the Mood

This one gets the gush award, for sure.

Thousands of lights were twinkling. No fewer than 178 banners festooned the streets. The 60-foot white fir trucked in from Northern California was anchored fast. Santa was in his log cabin. And before dawn the shoppers began streaming in.

All day Friday they came in throngs to the sprawling Victoria Gardens open-air town center in Rancho Cucamonga. "Thanksgiving is over, cooking is done and now we're on to Christmas," Darla Steffen said.

Shopping with her daughter and granddaughters, Steffen said she loved the outdoor feel and "of course, our California sunshine. Where else could you shop like this at the end of November? Right, girls?"

Preparation paid off here, as it did at practically every mall and Main Street across the country Friday. Merchants across Southern California were generally optimistic about what they were seeing. The LAT just dispensed with all those dry numbers and went with the unfailingly optimistic local color story.

Associated Press, 2005:

This Associated Press story runs under the headline, "Stocks Get Modest Retail Push":

NEW YORK -- Wall Street finished the week with moderate gains Friday, extending a November rally in light post-Thanksgiving trading amid signs of a strong start to the busy holiday shopping season. The major indexes closed out their fifth straight winning week and remained at four-year highs. Stocks continued their monthlong advance, fueled by an improving economic backdrop and high hopes for solid retail sales that helped cast aside fears of a downturn.

Are four-year highs really modest? Here's hoping the rest of the Christmas shopping season is marked by such "black clouds," "modest gains," "reluctance," and "challenge."

Associated Press, 2006:

We've got a couple of examples, here, since the AP does a bunch of stories.

Expanded Hours, Discounts Lure Shoppers

It was cold, it was dark and in some places it was foggy. None of that would stop millions of bargain-seekers from climbing into their cars for a pre-dawn raid on their local malls, electronics retailers and discounters for the official start to the holiday season...

The aggressive tactics used to lure shoppers out before sunrise on Black Friday apparently worked.

Black Friday Starts Off Holiday Season With a Bang (this is an AP/Reuters composite)

This year's "Black Friday" could be the strongest opening to the U.S. holiday shopping season in years if the droves of Americans eager to exploit early-bird specials are any guide.

Terry Lundgren, chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores Inc., said he arrived at the company's flagship Macy's store in Manhattan at 5:30 a.m. to find lines wrapped completely around the building, which takes up a whole city block.

Black Friday Blooms Per U.S. Tradition

Joe O'Connor's bargain battle plan was set a few days ago, when he scoped out the Macy's in midtown Manhattan for what promised to be excellent prices the day after Thanksgiving.

A couple of shirts here. A pendant for his wife there. A leather jacket elsewhere.

At precisely 6:43 a.m. on Black Friday, yesterday, O'Connor walked out of Macy's with the four items under his arm, all purchased at discount prices. The whole process took 41 minutes, he said.

Gone are the "black clouds," the "challenging economy," and "reluctance." Funny, the economy was "challenging" and "cloudy" pre-Nov. 7, according to the press.

I guess it's been a hell of a three weeks. Three cheers for Democrats and their Black-Friday-Fixin', Reluctance-Banishing, Cure-All Economic Elixir!

[TexanToTheCore]

Actually, same store sales for Walmart were down last week.

[rxgalfl]

I agree, Drudge also has it on his website, about Walmart being 0.2% lower than last year. One of the comments which stood out was "I see people buying better, what I call 'antiquity', presents that are better made, more durable -- things I view as generational presents," Ed Schmults, chief executive, told Reuters in an interview.

TRANSLATION: Consumers are no longer interested into the cheap, Chinese made items sold at WalMart but prefer, instead, better built, better quality items sold elsewhere.

[trek]

A good article that misses the point.

The tenor of the main stream media is more positive since the election because the members of the press feel better. They feel better not only because their guys won, but because they feel (correctly) that they had a big hand in the victory. And, in the end, the news coverage we get from the press is all about them.

This is why it is important to have partisans of both stripes in the press. The problem today is that all we have are democrat partisans in the main stream press.

[Brilliant]

I went out yesterday to buy something. The traffic wasn't bad, and there really weren't the throngs I'd expected.

[SauronOfMordor]

We went out shopping today (suburbs of Philadelphia). It was not an impressive crowd, more like a standard Saturday than the start of the Christmas shopping season. Parking lots (around noon) were maybe a quarter to a third full.

[TimSkalaBim]

Agree with what you say, but this article is making that point.

What will be interesting is in the next two years while the media tries to schizophrenically hype the joy of having a Dem-controlled congress while trying to explain the horrors of a Republican White House. They've gotten rusty, over the past twelve years, peddling this particular story-line, but they'll get the hang of it soon enough.

[dalereed]

People are nuts!

I wouldn't go out shoping after Thanksgiving unless there was a gun to my head and what people spend on Christmas is absolutely outrageoud!

[lowbridge]

I recall back in August 1992 the Presidential campaign was in full swing. The local (New York) ABC station decided to do a story on the economy. They did a LIVE remote from a Mall in Long Island and asked passersby how they felt the economy was doing. The results were mixed. One third thought that the economy was doing fine. One third thought it was doing horrible. And the remaining one third thought it was doing ok, but could be better.

Fast forward 4 months later. It's the first week of December. Clinton has won the election. The same local ABC station decided to do another story on the economy again. And they aired the same video. Only they edited out the ones that thought the economy wasnt doing so well. Left in were all the ones who thought the econmomy was doing great. And the word "LIVE" was still in the upper corner. No mention of the fact that this was old video. They actually pretended that this was a brand new and live report from the mall. (of course it did look strange for people during the month of December wearing short sleeved shirts and pants)

[reg45]

People are taking their last opportunity to spend their own money before the imposition of new higher taxes reduces them to paupers.

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

"The problem today is that all we have are democrat partisans in the main stream press."

The democrats get 365 days of free campaigning from the one flavor media. Republicans get negative reporting 365 days of the year and they're sometimes allowed to buy time to get their message out. No diversity in thought allowed at Universities or media outlets!

The democrat controlled media feels this is okay because they're right... doncha' know /sarcarsm

[exile]

"I wouldn't go out shoping after Thanksgiving unless there was a gun to my head and what people spend on Christmas is absolutely outrageous"

I only ventured out to the grocery store yesterday, but drove past the mall. It didn't look too full to me. I smell hype.

[mdmathis6]

One fly in the ointment...its still a Republican administration...

therefore both parties can claim credit for the economy!

[WireAndWood]

I did not go out shopping on Black Friday but for a variety of reasons I drove by Wal-Mart several times. The traffic was NEVER a problem anywhere in the city, and Wal-Mart's parking lot was no more crowded than usual - probably less so.

I've heard time and time again already that the season is off to a poor showing, but of course the idiotpress will tell us otherwise.

[reaganandme]

Wait a sec. I thought this economy was the worse since the Great Depression.
The Democratic takeover must have given the public renewed confidence.

[nvcdl]

I went in Walmart on Black Friday to pick up some odds & ends - there were still plenty of the sale items in stock in the afternoon - it was pretty busy though.

[Stallone]

Clinton took credit for the economy with a Republican Congress.

How much will you bet that the RINO pussies in the White House won't have the balls to defend their role in a booming economy over the claims of the 'Rats?

Or to blame the 'Rats if things go south?

We are wasting time working pro bono for the the present administration's Public Relations fiasco team.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The tenor of the main stream media is more positive since the election because the members of the press feel better. They feel better not only because their guys won, but because they feel (correctly) that they had a big hand in the victory. And, in the end, the news coverage we get from the press is all about them.

This is why it is important to have partisans of both stripes in the press. The problem today is that all we have are democrat partisans in the main stream press.

First paragraph dead on; second paragraph has a hitch. Exactly because "it's all about them" with journalists, and journalism does nothing except criticize, condemn and complain, it is impossible for journalism to be anything other than socialist.

Because socialism is exactly criticism and second guessing, Big Journalism is a political party of the left. And, since the Vietnam era, the Democratic Party has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Journalism. And since second guessing makes you look smart when you are out of power but doesn't qualify you to be dog catcher let alone POTUS, the logical result of Big Journalism in power is the Clinton "symbolism over substance" "continuous political campaign" presidency. Unable to actively take risk, but doomed to take the enormous risk of paralysis and inaction.

Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate

[trek]

"Because socialism is exactly criticism and second guessing, Big Journalism is a political party of the left. "

You offer an interesting theory, but I don't really buy it. I see no evidence in history that the press is inherently socialist. As evidence go back and look at the Federalist Papers and consider the press environment in which they were written. There was a vigorous debate in the country as to what form the government should take. And the debate was anything but socialist vs. socialist.

This is not to say that for at least the last 40 years what you say has been true. In that time period the press has undoubtedly been completely socialist in its perspective. This simply reflects the dominant view of elite opinion in that era. But the last 40 years does not constitute the totality of history. And, hopefully, it does not portend history's end.