The economy was fine in 2006 before the Democrats took control of Congress. This was before operation Fannie/Freddie/CRA kicked in by the Dems.
“gitty”???
With all due respect to your friend, I submit if he looked all around him he wouldn't see me there, much less gitty about the thing. I will grant him "cult-like" behavior, though.
People whose thinking doesn't get much more complex than the crudest of symbology must have their heroes and villains to survive mentally in a world that holds precious few of either in reality. Bush was a necessary devil for them, Obama a necessary angel - theirs isn't a Manichaean world, it's simply a model too stupid and crude to allow for anything else. These tend to be, ironically, persons claiming to appreciate the world in shades of grey. Black and white, I suppose, are shades of grey but I'd like to think there's a little middle ground there as well.
Nevertheless, it explains a good deal of the notion that "not-Bush" was enough to warrant a vote. If you project everything evil in one direction it simplifies the search for everything good. Children, small animals, and liberals do this, but there I repeat myself.
I'll bet.