Sunday, September 14, 2008

Two Things of Great Interest

First, further showing MSM bias, American Thinker Editor Thomas Lifson has this post at his blog that shows the complete softball questions ABC's Charlie Gibson asked of Obama. It then juxtaposes them against the questions that Gibson asked of Palin, who is NOT at the top of her party's ticket. Folks, the bias is BREATHTAKING.

Second, Donald Luskin has this piece at WaPo entitled "QUIT DOLING OUT THAT BAD-ECONOMY LINE". My favorite excerpt, and it needs to shouted from the mountain tops (bold emphasis mine):

"Things today just aren't that bad. Sure, there are trouble spots in the economy, as the government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and jitters about Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, amply demonstrate. And unemployment figures are up a bit, too. None of this, however, is cause for depression -- or exaggerated Depression comparisons.

Overall, the pessimists are up against an insurmountable reality: In the last reported quarter, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent, adjusted for inflation. That's virtually the same as the 3.4 percent average growth rate since -- yes -- the Great Depression.

Why, then, does the public appear to agree with the media? A recent Zogby poll shows that 66 percent of likely voters believe that "the entire world is either now locked in a global economic recession or soon will be." Actually, that's a major clue to what started this thought-contagion about everything being the worst it has been 'since the Great Depression': Politics."

Since 1992 at age 22, I've been following Presidential Elections with a great deal of attention. If there is an incumbent Republican in the White House, its time to talk “recession/worst economy since Herbert Hoover”, facts be damned and, second, here comes the charismatic Democrat talking change.

The media had tremendous success anointing Bill Clinton as president in 1992, with the constant false drumbeat of "economic decline", worst economy since the Great Depression. By summer of 1992 the US economy was already rebounding, but the tools of Clinton Inc in the media would have none of it. They continue to allow Clinton and Gore to hammer the "bad economy" theme seemingly unchallenged. What was Clinton’s remedy for this “weak economy”? You guessed it, endless discussion of “change” trumpeted throughout the media, with assurances that those in the middle class were “not going to be taxed.” And of course, we all remember the inevitable speech (I think it was even prior to inauguration) that, try as he might, he (Clinton) was unable to avoid asking more from you (ie, taxes). History may be repeating itself.