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Daily ZOT: Oh, that 7.2? Here's what to do
Star-Telegram ^ | Matt Miller

Posted on 11/07/2003 11:48:35 AM PST by Lincoln Logs

Democrats are in a tizzy over news that the economy grew 7.2 percent in the last quarter, the fastest such growth since 1984. "Oh, no!" was their secret, instant cry. "Does this mean we can't blast Bush on the economy anymore? And if so, what does that do to our 2004 prospects?"

Let's stipulate right here that Republicans remain the market leaders when it comes to praying for bad news that is good news for them politically.

(If I didn't say this, right-wing talk show hosts would seize on this column as proof that this liberal is revealing his party's heart of darkness, when every grown-up knows that both sides have partly dark hearts when it comes to winning. If you doubt what I'm saying, ask yourself why Republicans spent much of the 1990s preposterously trying to rebrand the Clinton Boom as the Reagan Boom.)

But as Democrats scramble to digest what the growth figures mean, let me suggest that in this case the good news isn't bad news for the party. Instead, it's a blessing in disguise that will force Democrats to make their case for regime change at home with greater clarity and force.

Why?

For starters, despite one good quarter (if the numbers hold up when later revised), President Bush's overall economic record will still be awful -- and awful on a history-making scale. Bush will approach November 2004 with the worst record of job loss on his watch since Herbert Hoover.

Next, it's no surprise that if you run huge budget deficits, you can goose the economy for a time. Send defense spending through the roof and taxes through the floor, and -- voila! -- you'll pump demand and get some near-term growth.

The real problem is that Bush has used the legitimate need for short-run stimulus to enact long-term tax cuts aimed mostly at the best-off.

This strategy is a nefarious twofer because it's also designed to create long-term deficits that conservative ideologues can use to "starve the beast" of government. Bush's perverse harnessing of short-run need to sell long-run insanity is what Democrats need to make the public understand.

Beyond this, Democrats need to make next year's debate turn on rival visions for America, not near-term economic bumps. Democrats need to expose Bush's "compassion" hoax for what it is -- a rhetorical trick to con independent voters into believing that Bush isn't a Neanderthal like Newt.

But three years into his term, we can see Bush's domestic vision all too clearly. It's an America where 45 million to 50 million Americans are uninsured forever. A nation where the most disadvantaged children are systematically assigned the nation's least-qualified teachers in perpetuity. Where tens of millions of working families live in poverty as far as the eye can see.

Bush will try to disguise this vision -- who wouldn't? -- but Democrats must expose it, in all its unsavory detail.

Democrats have a different vision, and this clash has to be the central domestic choice put to voters in 2004. Richard Gephardt puts it nicely: "We're all in this together," he says, "whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. What happens to some of us eventually affects all of us."

It's this conviction, this view of the world, that underlies deep commitments to student aid, Social Security and more. For all his pretty speeches, Bush's choices reveal that his party thinks we're more or less on our own.

This Bush ethic -- that it's every man for himself (championed ironically by the antithesis of the self-made man) -- is reflected in the shocking greed and corruption that continues to be exposed at the highest levels of business. First Dick Grasso walked off with $140 million. Now come revelations about misdealing at major mutual funds. What sordid shoes will drop next?

The Democratic notion that we're in this together, and need to protect ordinary Americans against the rot at the top, resonates today because it's so true.

With all these potent themes to bring to a boil next year, Democrats should thus relax about the 7.2. A little economic good news is just that: good news. A year from now, the kick in the pants it gave Democrats to sharpen their case will have been welcome.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agentofduh; ahole; babylonisfallen; barfalert; breachbirthanoxia; clintonista; dnctalkingpoints; du; dummy; dusrupter; eplurbissmokempot; herekittykittykitty; imaloserbaby; kitties; megazot; ozonealert; sandwichshyofpicnic; soreloserman; strikeupthebanned; syphilliticdementia; takeyourmeds; thisaccountisbanned; thisacountisbanned; viking; vikingkitties; zot; zotmebaby; zzzzzooooooottttttt
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To: Grit
I smell ozone and can almost see the nitrogen...
21 posted on 11/07/2003 12:00:46 PM PST by cyborg (Kyk nou, die ding wat jy soek issie hierie sienj)
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To: NELSON111
Do you guys every get the feeling that we are not even on the same planet as the left?

Just about every day. And now we have our media (Fox, FR, Wash Times) and they have theirs (DU, CBS, NY Times) - and their version of reality steadily creeps further and further away from the reality that we inhabit where you cannot consume what you haven't produced.

22 posted on 11/07/2003 12:01:13 PM PST by dirtboy (Now in theaters - Howard Dean as Buzz Lightweight - taking the Dems to Oblivion and Beyond in 2004!)
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To: Lincoln Logs
Go take an economics class moron. And I mean one on Capitalism not socialism.
23 posted on 11/07/2003 12:01:34 PM PST by marblehead17
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To: Lincoln Logs; 4mycountry; Zavien Doombringer
Kittens Ahoy!!!
24 posted on 11/07/2003 12:01:41 PM PST by Cyber Ninja (His legacy is a stain on the dress.)
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To: Lincoln Logs
"Let's stipulate right here that Republicans remain the market leaders when it comes to praying for bad news that is good news for them politically."

Really? So is that why after Republican's took control in 1994, they virtually helped get Clinton re-elected in 1996? Instead of sitting around praying for a bad economy, Republicans took the lead with the "Contract" and practically handed Clinton the re-election when they forced him to sign the Welfare Reform Act. Instead of working to get things down for the good of the country, Democrats obstruct routinely, to benefit them politically. We saw this with that microphone that was accidentally left on as California State Democrats talked of obstruction. We see this today, with "The Memo" that came out of the Select Intelligence Committee. Please. Democrats not only pray for bad things to happen, they enact policy or obstruct to make sure bad things happen.
25 posted on 11/07/2003 12:01:58 PM PST by cwb (.)
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To: finnman69
BS is right. Uninsured means nothing. You can still see a doctor. When I was in college, I blew out a knee playing sandlot football and I had no insurance. My total knee replacement (a $10,000+ surgery) cost me $50 at John Sealy in Galveston. Was it Methodist Hospital in Downtown Houston? No...but it was pretty much free. People get health care in this country. Now as a tax payer, I am paying for others.
26 posted on 11/07/2003 12:03:08 PM PST by NELSON111
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To: Lincoln Logs; VRWCmember; Zavien Doombringer; 4mycountry; jriemer; Constitution Day; harpseal; ...
Welcome to FR, LincolnLogs
27 posted on 11/07/2003 12:04:34 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (Government money = government control)
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To: Ladysmith
We have ZOT! (see headline). We have ignition. We have a troll deep-fried to a crackly crunch.
28 posted on 11/07/2003 12:05:18 PM PST by dirtboy (Now in theaters - Howard Dean as Buzz Lightweight - taking the Dems to Oblivion and Beyond in 2004!)
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To: Lincoln Logs
popcorn popping now
29 posted on 11/07/2003 12:05:34 PM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: Grit
Well, Now that Mr. Logs is gone... On to the article.

It is almost hard to believe that this much overt hatred is printed in a "real" newspaper.

Republicans remain the market leaders when it comes to praying for bad news
This strategy is a nefarious
Bush's perverse harnessing of short-run need to sell long-run insanity
expose Bush's "compassion" hoax
a rhetorical trick to con independent voters

a Neanderthal like Newt.
antithesis of the self-made man
in the shocking greed and corruption
protect ordinary Americans against the rot at the top

All direct quotes.

30 posted on 11/07/2003 12:06:46 PM PST by Grit (Tolerance for all but the intolerant...and those who tolerate intolerance etc etc)
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To: finnman69
Never an issue under Clinton of course.

Exactly. ...As if none of the problems this author outlined existed when the Slickster was disgracing the WH. It's just an old and predictable game -- when a Pubbie is in the Oval Office, the Rats trot out all the homeless and "disadvantaged" for everyone to see, as if they all of a sudden materialized out of thin air.

31 posted on 11/07/2003 12:06:47 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Lincoln Logs

32 posted on 11/07/2003 12:07:20 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (Government money = government control)
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To: Lincoln Logs
Good ole Uncle Nik has something for you..


33 posted on 11/07/2003 12:07:26 PM PST by Paradox (I dont believe in taglines, in fact, this tagline does not exist.)
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To: Lincoln Logs
Did anybody get a chance to read "Treason"?

If FDR had died a year earlier, Henry Wallace, a Soviet spy, would have become President of the United States.

This just ZOT's my mind.
34 posted on 11/07/2003 12:07:34 PM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Fierce Allegiance
Let the libs rule & we'll all be like this:


35 posted on 11/07/2003 12:08:31 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (Government money = government control)
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To: Lincoln Logs

"On my mark... wait for it...ZOT!!"

36 posted on 11/07/2003 12:09:59 PM PST by Jonah Hex (If a dog started to salivate, would Pavlov ring a bell?)
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To: Paradox

Lincoln Logs........meet this toy...

37 posted on 11/07/2003 12:10:21 PM PST by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: Lincoln Logs
Republicans remain the market leaders when it comes to praying for bad news that is good news for them politically

If you doubt what I'm saying, ask yourself why Republicans spent much of the 1990s preposterously trying to rebrand the Clinton Boom as the Reagan Boom

So the Repubs celebrating a boom, just calling it a different name, is them praying for bad news?? Liberals make no sense most times. Needent read further.

38 posted on 11/07/2003 12:11:05 PM PST by bird4four4
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To: dirtboy
I got my van de Graaf generator all fired up right here:


39 posted on 11/07/2003 12:13:15 PM PST by Fierce Allegiance (Government money = government control)
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To: Lincoln Logs
You are out of touch...


40 posted on 11/07/2003 12:16:04 PM PST by Arrowhead1952 (Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter are living proof that not all blondes are dumb.)
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