Infuriated by Growth Report, Democrat Candidates Try to Talk Down
Economy
Chuck Noe,
NewsMax.com
Friday,
Oct. 31, 2003
Anyone who saw yesterday's great news
of the booming
economy, followed by economists'
predictions of President Bush's re-election, knew what would come next: the
Democrat White House wannabes bitching and moaning and trying to talk down the
economy.
And that's just what happened. Hear them roar:
Sen. John Edwards issued this statement even before the remarkable 7.2
percent annual growth rate was announced: "The Bush administration has dug a
hole so deep and so wide that it's going to take a lot more than one quarter to
get back on solid ground."
Howard Dean: "President Bush has compiled the worst economic record since
the Great Depression, and it is going to take a lot more than one quarter of
growth to clean it up. The real measure of a strong economy is when average
Americans see real benefits and the people who lost their jobs under President
Bush are working again."
Rep. Dick Gephardt's spokesman Steve Murphy: "Unemployment is not down a
bit. Corporate profits are up while jobs are lost because of poor competition."
Wesley Clark's spokesman Steve Bouchard: "This is still a jobless recovery.
Three million are jobless. Fiscal mismanagement is the hallmark of this
administration."
Sen. Joe Lieberman's spokesman Kristen Carvell: "Obviously it's good news,
but it does not change the fact that the president has turned Main Street into a
one-way street going in the wrong direction."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich attacked what he called Bush's "failed economic
policies."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who says attempts to nab illegal aliens
are "terroristic" but who at least has enough sense not to be in the race: Bush
has "the worst record on job creation since Herbert Hoover. Mr. President, where
are the jobs?"
Daschle: Americans Too Stupid
to Understand Economic Growth
Fellow non-candidate Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader: "I think every
single American is far more interested in J-O-B than G-N-P [sic]. When you look
at the fact that, in the last quarter, we've still lost 40,000 jobs, I don't
think they understand any growth in percentages."
Sen. John Kerry, campaigning Thursday in Davenport, Iowa: "Roll back the
high-end tax cuts of the Bush administration."
Economists, in contrast, said the president's tax relief helped fuel the
impressive 7.2 percent growth rate, which is better than anything Bill Clinton
saw even during the frenzied and unstable days of the Internet and high-tech
bubble.
Will the Democrats' attempt to talk down the economy succeed, or instead
backfire on them? Some think the latter.
"The new economic numbers are further proof that the Democratic candidates'
calls for massive tax increases would only reverse the upward trend," said Jayne
Millrick, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party.
"There's no question that [the GDP number] is a big political embarrassment
for the Democratic presidential candidates - especially Dean," said Stephen
Moore, president of Club for Growth, an organization that promotes tax relief.
"It's also evidence that the Mondale-era Democratic proposals to raise taxes
would have the opposite effect on the economy right now, would slow growth and
would be devastating to Americans who are looking for work and would be
devastating for the economy," said Christine Iverson of Republican National
Committee.
The Christian Science Monitor reported today that "there's no way that the
best quarterly GDP numbers since Ronald Reagan's presidency aren't good news for
the White House."
The Bush administration issued a statement saying: "We cannot expect economic
growth numbers like this every quarter. Yet by continuing a pro-growth agenda,
we will sustain growth and job creation in this country. We're on the right
track, but we've got work to do."
As the president told factory workers Thursday in Columbus, Ohio: "We've got
to get after it. And that's my message to the United States Congress: Resolve
your differences. Understand that if you're interested in people finding a job,
we need an energy policy. That's why I'm here. I want these people working."
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