mclaughlin group predictions

Friday nights, The McLaughlin Group is still a guilty pleasure of mine. Some weird combination of John McLaughlin saying absolutely crazy things, Monica Crowley being the stupidest woman on the planet, me agreeing with Pat Buchanan on a frighteningly regular basis, Eleanor Clift being exactly right on everything in the most annoying fashion, and Lawrence O'Donnell ranting about Mormons captivates me. Plus it always reminds me of this, JACK GERMOND!

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Yeah, it's a stupid show. Like I said, guilty pleasure.


Anyways, the end of the show usually has predictions, so I thought I'd start reviewing them and see who, if anyone, deserves any sort of respect.


First up: 01/19/2008.

MR. BUCHANAN: Because the Democrats, all of them, say all our troops will be out within a year, combat troops, General David Petraeus will be a major player in the campaign of 2008, this year.

Nope. Petraeus wasn't insignificant, but he did not affect the election. +.25

MS. CLIFT: You heard it here first: Wisconsin Governor Tim Pawlenty likely to be the Republican running mate, whoever gets the nomination.

Nope. Sarah Palin. +0

MS. CROWLEY: Things have been relatively stable in Pakistan since the Islamic fundamentalists took out Benazir Bhutto. That is all going to change. The militants look at this as their moment. They're starting to encroach on some of the big cities in Pakistan. And you will see increasing destabilization and perhaps even the elimination of President Musharraf.

Mostly true, although I cannot stand Crowley, so it pains me to say. +.75

MR. ZUCKERMAN: We are heading in for the worst recession, I believe, since the Depression. We are going to have a recession that's going to last more than a year. We will have a 6-and-a-half to 7 percent unemployment rate. We will have a drop in the federal funds rate to below 3 percent, and it still will not cure the problem of huge losses, both in the housing market, which will drop by another 10 percent going into next year, and in the credit markets, which have unimaginable losses, in the literally hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars.

Uh, yeah. +1

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: I predict that on January 30th, one week from Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will cut the interest rate 75 basis points, three-quarters of 1 percent.

I have no idea. Looking here, it looks like it was cut .21, but I don't know if I'm reading the right number. +.25


Scorecard:


Buchanan .25
Crowley .75
Zuckerman 1
Clift 0
McLaughlin .25