Bush: economy is Democrats' fault

The Dow has surged past 8,000 as of this writing, which is good news for the Republicans. It won't stay there of course -- expect some massive profit taking the next few days. But, the high 7,000s looks a hell of a lot better than the high 6,000s.

But the economy still sucks. There's no getting around that. And Bush is on the offensive, blaming Democrats for the country's ills. No surprise there. What is a surprise is his argument for blaming Democrats.

The reason the stock market is down, unemployment is up, retirement accounts are down, the trade deficit is up, the consumer confidence index is down, and corporate executives are being locked up is not poor stewardship of the economy, but -- get this: the Democrats refusal to pass Bush's proposed energy and terrorism insurance measures.

Bush, beginning three weeks of near-daily campaigning, sought to place responsibility for the faltering economy on Democrats in Congress, calling on them to pass energy and terrorism insurance measures he has proposed. "They need to get moving," he said at an airport rally here before heading to a $1.4 million fundraising reception.

Of course, Bush's tax cuts were supposed to be the cure for the nation's economic ills, but whatever. The cure is now terrorism insurance, tax cuts for Exxon and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Boy. Makes Bush's tortured 'justifications' for an Iraq invasion look great in comparison.

Posted October 15, 2002 09:42 AM | Comments (13)