Chron: Bush apologists can't wish away the economic truth

I love it. bamaslammer calls people stupid bastards. People disagree with them, then they're pompous arrogant SOBs. I can't believe the admins let this continue.

 

Outstanding post. Now as for this bit of whining.......

Boo-hoo, hoo.... I think that one thing we've lost in this culture is the ability to call someone on their stupidity. People that believe that taxing their way to prosperity are morons, plain and simple. People who believe that wealth is a zero-sum game (There is only a finite pie to be divided up) are stupid, blockheaded idiots.

I leave this place for a month or so, come back and absolutely nothing has changed. I think anyone who believes that every single "good" job we have in this country is headed overseas and we are degenerating into a nation of fry cooks is a person who lacks the cognitive capacity to be allowed to do a lot of important things, like vote.

I believe that people who believe that Bush is using these terror warnings for "political gain" are crazy, Bush-hating, wingnuts.

I'm not a learned man on economics, but I understand the basics enough to know that Euro-style Kerry quasi-socialism (higher taxes and increased social services) and Kerry's inability to fight any sort of meaningful war on terror is anything but a boon to the economy.

 

BBS: Leftist apologists can't wish away the reason they believe the crap they believe.

 

That's the beauty of the d&d.

 

Don't forget to kick him in the shins! Who needs this?

 

Bush speech drops 'turning the corner'
Democrats criticize wording
From Dana Bash

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush has apparently turned a corner in his use of what had been a popular refrain in recent campaign stump speeches.

Shortly after the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, Bush hit the campaign trail to express his optimism about the country's future.

"Turning the corner" or a variation of that was his phrase of choice. At the time, campaign aides had highlighted the phrase as part of Bush's late summer message.

"When it comes to improving America's public schools, we are turning the corner, and we are not turning back," Bush said during a July 30 stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

"When it comes to spreading the peace, we're turning a corner, and we're not turning back," he said the next day in Canton, Ohio.

That refrain was repeated on other campaign stops. But this week, the "turning the corner" line has disappeared from Bush's speech, as Democrats seized on the words to charge that the president was out of touch.

"The last time we had a president who talked about turning the corner and ran on the slogan of turning the corner was Herbert Hoover," Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, said during a July 31 stop in Greenberg, Pennsylvania.

Hoover was in the White House as the country sank into the Great Depression in the 1930s.

One Gallup poll from early July showed that 57 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with how things were going in the country. A top Bush aide told CNN that their internal polling showed the same thing. Other polls have shown the economy remains a concern for many Americans.

A lackluster jobs report out Friday -- which showed far fewer jobs created in July than expected -- provided Democrats with more ammunition to hit Bush on the economy.

Bush aides told CNN not to expect that line on the campaign trail anymore, saying it's not working. Publicly, the Bush campaign maintains there is nothing unusual about the about the evolution of a stump speech.

Matthew Dowd, a senior strategist for the Bush campaign, told CNN that in the course of any campaign "you tighten up language, you make it clearer." But he maintained the president's core message of "moving America forward" has not changed.

One Bush aide told CNN that the "turning the corner" debate exposes disagreement inside the campaign over how the president should frame his message, given that times are still tough.

Democrats, however, saw things differently. The Democratic National Committee released a statement, highlighting Bush's tinkered message, along with a new Web ad.

With the words "Oh, really?" on the screen, the ad compares the "turning the corner" line to "mission accomplished." That was the banner prominently displayed behind Bush on May 1, 2003, when he declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. The year that followed saw a rise in deaths and violence in Iraq.

"This is going to go down in the same lines as 'mission accomplished' -- something that seemed like a good idea at the time but in retrospect they realized it was a mistake," said DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera.

CNN's Sean Loughlin contributed

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/11/bush.corner/index.html

 

Funny 'toon.



If you can't beat 'em... put 'em on "ignore."

So will, "I am John F. Kerrrry... And I ammm reportingg forrr Duuuutyyy."

 

And also why you must always wear your anti-poo suit when you come in here.

 

and honestly...you can't "beat" anyone here. there are different viewpoints on things...very rarely are we arguing about objective fact...but subjective interpretation. reasonable argument is a good thing.

 

Questionable?

Bush came into office and the economy was not in recession. As an aside, GWB dogged the economy from the bully pulpit to get his tax cuts through, BEFORE the start fo the recession. Being proactive was good. Using a bully pulpit to scare investors about the economy at the end of its cycle was irresponsible and self serving (and just another day at the office for GWB).

"to lower interest rates and make money cheaper" is monetary policy not fiscal policy. GWB does not control monetary policy, Greenspan et al do.

Lowering taxes and increasing spending did jump start the economy. But what was needed was a temporary stimulus and NOT a permanent tax cut. Arguably, GWB's motivation for pushing tax cuts was for payback to his political base. I strongly suspect that GWB would have pursued tax cuts whatever the circumstances.

BTW, the increased spending was never pitched by GWB as an economic stimulus.

Methinks, you are cherry picking the facts.

As an another aside if Gore had become President instead of GWB, he would be facing a very tough re-election campaign for some the reasons you mentioned. The capital markets at the beginning of 2001 were grossly overvalued (as they still are btw). The capital gains generated by the boom stock market "artificially" generated the budget surpluses, hiding the deeply seated structural problems in the federal budget. Adding in the pent up "demand" for an economic cyclical correction, the US economy was due for a healthy recession in 2001. A long recession (or a long recovery) was not unexpected.

These are the cards GWB has been dealt. Presidents' fortunes rise and fall with the economy, right or wrong. Had Gore been President instead, he would have likely been a one term president.

 

it was already on its way, though. we were already in the midst of it. part of the time that economists looked back upon and said, "the recession started here" was before bush was put in office.

all of this assumes way too much control over the economy by the president. we go through this over and over and over again.

 

Methinks the only economists who state that the recession started before GWB took office are political hacks.

I vividly remember that the US economy was in a slow down when GWB took office and that the first mention from economists that we might be in recession came in the summer of 2001. BTW, the March 2001 recession was officially called in the fall of 2001.

Sometime in the fall of 2001, GWB et al started spreading the message that GWB inherited a recession from Clinton, empty words for self serving political gain. By that time (post 911), the press had stopped questioning GWB. Thus, a lie repeated often in DC becomes a self evident truth.

As I stated above, the recession in GWB's presidency was inevitable. The underlying reasons were out of GWB's control. I still submit that GWB behaved poorly by dogging the economy to get his political-payback-incidently-may-help-the-economy tax cuts through. I also submit that GWB's permanent "fix" for a temporary problem was irresponsible.

 

a recession is a sustained period of "slow-down" like you talk about. that period began before he took office.

listen, i'm not defending GWB. but i just don't like the intellectual dishonesty that people actually believe that a guy who has been president for just a few months can wreck an economy. that makes no sense to me.

 

Yeah its more power to them to you because your ass wasnt laid off for 4 months. You didnt have to worry about your mortgage and car payments and everything else. You didnt have to move your family across the country because the market was so poor that you couldnt find a job in the 4th largest city in the US. Its easy for assholes that make lots of money talking about sports to say how great the economy is and how our market is in this huge boom. Maybe if you had to do real work you would know what real people have to deal with. Sometimes making an extra $5 isnt worth what you do to your neighbor. I would gladly take a $5 an hour paycut if I knew that several other IT pros could have a job. ITS NOT WORTH IT TO ME.

"With great power there must also come great responsibility"

Watch Spiderman you corporate dickheads.