Defending the Truth

Dang! This sure is bad news for Americans (who happen to be Democrats and liberals).

Unemployment is the lowest it has been in over 5 years.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...src=rss&rpc=22


Now please, don't let this stand! There's no way that FoundIt66, Tyreay and Hevusa can NOT somehow spin this into bad news.

Have at it, girls!

Looks like already Reuters did it... link from the same article: "Republicans get no traction from strong economy" It seems people are looking at Iraq rather than the average US unemployment.

All the dems have is Iraq. The economy is booming. Low unemployment. What else is there to complain about. Complain, complain, complain. That's the democrat plan.

But constant bad news from Iraq, where the U.S. death toll reached 104 last month -- the highest in nearly two years -- and persistent voter concerns about pocketbook issues like the high cost of health care and college tuition have neutralized whatever traction President George W. Bush's Republican Party had hoped for in Tuesday's congressional election.

Do you approve of President Bush's handling of the economy?
Yes: 27%
No: 70%
Not sure: 3%
(Note: NOT a scientific poll, but rather just representative of the people who responded to the poll web-site.)

All the Repubs have is an economy that nobody seems to care about.
Soldiers dying in Iraq, Iraq civil war, intelligence reports saying Bush's policy is INCREASING terrorism, a sky-rocketing national debt, North Korea (and for the record, trying to blame Clinton for something that developed SIX YEARS into Bush's presidency? ROFLMAO!), etc, etc, etc...

All I hear about in the news these days is bad news. Because we all know good news is boring news.

That is probably why most people do not approve of President Bush's handling of the economy (they do not know how well the economy is doing)

That is very unfortunate.

I was curious about that myself.
What the heck is the "negative opinion" based on?

Are they possibly focusing perception on the debt, while ignoring unemployment and other factors?

The debt has been cut in half and sooner than expected. More jobs mean more taxes taken in. The dems can't say anything about the economy because it is too good. The fault of the republicans in this campaign is they are not hollering and screaming about how good things are. The moan and groan of the dems is too loud to get any truth out. Do you guys ever have anything nice to say or a plan? No. Complain, complain, complain.

No. It hasn't.
Do you understand the difference between the words DEFICIT and DEBT?

And cutting the deficit in half is a funny statement. Clinton balanced the budget.
Bush came along and started racking up a HUGE debt.
Clinton had a good boat on the water, and then Bush took over.
Bush cute HUGE holes into the boat, and then managed to shore up the damage so that only about half of the water was coming in that was previously coming in.

Praise for cutting down the deficit needs to be accompanied by the realization that he CREATED the huge damn thing in the first place.


There could be some truth to this...
But on the flip side, what's to stop public perception from focusing on what it REALLY wants to focus on. The Iraq War...

It's like a cheating husband trying to tell his wife that he's still a good father to the kids. The wife is still going to be focusing on the infidelity, and it will be a hard sell to shift the focus.

And it's very probable that the public would just get pissed off at the Republicans for dodging the Iraq issue and harping on the economy.


Coming from alias, that's a hoot.
Tell me alias. Do you ever have anything nice to say about liberals? No. Complain, complain, complain...

You are EXACTLY what you are complaining about.
Oh. The irony...

On another level with regards to the "economy" and politics, the way I understand it (admittedly via one college economics course) is that the president's effect on the economy is essentially minimal compared to a variety of other factors, and moreover it's a delayed effect whereby any "economic" policy impact isn't seen for a months or even years.

i.e. Neither Bush nor Clinton deserve credit for the economy under their watch.
Bush Sr didn't deserve blame for the economy under his watch.
The economy is cyclical, and I don't think anything can really change the fundamental nature of that cycle.

What precisely has Bush or the Republicans done that they deserve credit for on the economy?
Or are they just in the right place at the right time...

I don't know if balancing the budget means stealing money from the Social Security trust fund.