Carpe Datum

I Like This Guy

One of my favorite diarists on Daily Kos is bonddad. See if you can figure out why:

The National Revulsion Online is at it again.  The economy is "Red Hot," and anyone who disagrees with this assessment is guilty of "living in a bubble," or so says one Victor Davis Hanson.

The economy is red-hot, not mired in joblessness or relegating millions to poverty. Unemployment is low, so are interest rates. Growth is high, as is consumer spending and confidence.

First, the article does not cite one statistic to prove its assertions.  Vic simply says things are so.  Therefore, they must be so.  If it's in NRO online, it must be true.  This is how the RWNM works.  They have a set of publications that supposedly form the intellectual grounding of the conservative movement.  The NRO is in this group.  These publications are often wrong, but that doesn't stop the likes of Hannity, Rush and a host of other mouthpieces from saying things that are factually wrong.

Vic...I'm going to introduce to a few novel ideas here.  One is called statistics.  You see Vic, economics is a science that measures certain things.  Secondly, most people cite their sources.  This is a novel idea to the RWNM.  However, if you say something is so, then it adds to your credibility if you tell the reader where you get the information from.

not mired in joblessness

OK...Once again, let's look at job creation figures for Bush's entire term.  I make this time distinction because the Bush economic team and their cheerleaders have started an interesting trend: they choose to start their analysis from the lowest statistical point to make the numbers look better.  Usually, they cite some point in 2003, claiming this is when Bush's policies took effect.  However, Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, not 2003.

First of all Vic, here is a link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  If you click on the detailed economic statistics at the top of the page, you can get a wealth of data -- as in facts -- to back up your assertions.  I know - those pesky little facts are getting in the way of your cheerleading, but some people actually like facts.

It goes on and gets better from here. Always fun to read a powerful liberal smackdown of an cynical, dishonest Republican.

Posted by Observer at December 18, 2005 03:00 PM