Bush Damned by Faint Praise

The left-leaning Mainstream Media has underreported consistently the good news about the American economy, barely mentioning a 4.8 increase in GDP and lower unemployment numbers. At the same time, gas price increases are trumpeted in Apocalyptic fashion, as though GWB were able to decrease prices at will. The fact that big oil is making record profits plays into the hands of business-hating social engineers.

Now the FT reports that two-thirds of Americans own their own homes [although the homes are normally heavily mortgaged]. People who own property tend to vote, and they tend to vote Republican.

The Democrats specialize in supercilious commentaries on Bush's sustained economic recovery, which they gnash their teeth about [especially Paul Krugman, a so-called "economist" who keeps forecasting gloom and doom to no avail], but insist is based on all sorts of false indicators and gloom-inducing trade and fiscal deficits. They insist that the average American has not participated in the economic fiesta, while at the same time supporting illegal immigration which naturally drives down the average wages of lower and lower-middle class Americans.

One of these Left Coast commentators, a moderate Democrat named Howard Fineman takes Bush to task for lowering taxes, contrary to the Democratic mantra that taxes must rise:

It would, among other things, extend by two years the Bush-era’s reductions in taxes on capital gains and dividends. The claim is that doing so will sustain overall economic growth (which has been pretty impressive, even though Bush gets no credit for it.) But the real political target is somewhat narrower: the estimated 60 million Americans who own stock.

Bush and the GOP talk earnestly about their vision of an “ownership society.” And maybe it’s true that they want everybody to be part of it. In the meantime, however, they will focus on trying to secure the support, or at least the acquiescence, of voters with portfolios. They aren't the stereotypical country club Republicans of old, by the way; they include tens of millions of middle-class Americans — ancestral Democrats — who nevertheless don’t want Congress to do anything that would depress the value of their 401 (k)s.

The idea is to get Democrats to vote against the tax-cut bill — ANY tax-cut bill. Let the op-ed pages rail about the deficit and the debt; the White House survivalists won’t care if they can find a way to accuse the Democrats of "wanting to raise taxes."

People who own stock are shareholders with a stake in the economy. People who own stock tend to vote, and to vote Republican, even in off-year elections.

Remember when the MSM used to trumpet "It's the economy, stupid!" while Clinton did his best to stay out of international efforts to stem the growth of Islamic terrorism?

Now that the economy is booming, and shows no sign of letting up, the same MSM is silent, hoping that its client Democratic Party will somehow stumble into power despite the fact that the average American is doing better than ever.