Free Republic

Ah, the elation that was felt yesterday when the headlines started showing up yesterday. The final report on the environmental impact of the proposed Keystone Pipeline was released, clearing the way for a speedy approval for construction from the White House. One of my coworkers read it out loud and declared it was about time. I pointed out that the favorable report was not the last word and was certainly not an approval to start construction of the pipeline, but my coworker said Obama would have no choice but to approve it. I told him simply, we shall see. I...

Our Worst President Ever? By Victor Davis Hanson From the November/December 2007 Issue The American That’s what some on both left and right are saying about George W. Bush. Don’t count him out yet, VICTOR DAVIS HANSON advises. Bush Geopolitics By October, 15 months before his presidency would end, George Bush’s approval ratings still hovered around 30 percent. His administration will go down, say historians such as Columbia’s Eric Foner and Princeton’s Sean Wilentz, as a disaster. As Wilentz put it, “Many his­torians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all...

WASHINGTON - Even though he's not running for re-election this year, President Bush knows just what he would focus on if he were: the economy and taxes. As Republicans face an increasingly tough political outlook, in part because of Bush's sagging approval ratings, the president offered some advice Monday to GOP candidates in the midterm elections. "If I were a candidate ... I'd say, 'Look at what the economy has done. It's strong. We've created a lot of jobs. ... I'd be telling people that the Democrats will raise your taxes. That's what they said. I'd be reminding people that...

President Bush discussed our nation's strong, and growing, economy. Fact Sheet: Growing Our Economy: Keeping Taxes Low and Restraining Spending.On the South Lawn, Bush honored 2005 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. He met with members of Congress to discuss energy policy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with President Bush at the White House. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney are in Lithuania where the VP will meet with leaders in the region regarding furthering democracy there. The Vice President's visit to Vilnius is the first stop in a three-nation, six-day trip that includes bilateral meetings with leaders...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew at its strongest rate in 2-1/2 years during the first three months of this year, snapping back from a lackluster fourth quarter on a surge in spending and investment, a Commerce Department report on Friday showed. Gross domestic product grew at a 4.8 percent annual rate in the January-March first quarter, more than twice the 1.7 percent rate in the fourth quarter and the strongest for any three months since 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2003. The first-quarter figure was only slightly below the 4.9 percent rate that Wall Street economists...

Strong Economy, Weak Coverage With the advent of a new chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, many are contemplating the health of the economy and future actions needed by the Fed. So how is the economy doing, and has the coverage of its recovery been balanced? Consider some healthy economic results which were released in late November and early December 2005: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measure of economic expansion and contraction, increased by 4.3 percent in the third quarter in spite of the devastating hurricanes. Since the second quarter 2003, GDP has grown over 3 percent each...

The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than five years last week, providing strong evidence that the labor market is shaking off the effects of a string of devastating hurricanes. (snip) The decline of 35,000 claims was much better than Wall Street had been expecting and bolstered the belief that the labor market is on the mend after a rough period in the fall when Gulf Coast hurricanes caused the loss of more than 600,000 jobs over a period of four months. The total for weekly jobless claims was...