Bush Allies Say He's Floundering On Economy

More divisions on the right, as Republican business leaders and others say the Bush team is adrift on the economy and has no new ideas to offer beyond "four more years." Make sure you read through the Washington Post article. Halfway in, there's a fun section where Treasury Secretary John W. Snow shows an Orwellian gift for staring facts in the face and blithely stating the obvious -- what my granddaddy used to call "lying". Some examples:

"In May, when the unemployment rate of 20- to 24-year-olds had risen to 9.7 percent, from 9.2 percent the month before, he told graduates at Kenyon College in Ohio, 'The job market is ripe for you right now.'

"On Thursday, Snow told employees of a ventilation company in Springfield, Mo., 'The tax cuts . . . are a critical part of the reason why I am able to report that our national economy has found its footing.' Meanwhile, in New York, the Conference Board, a business research firm, reported a second straight monthly decline in its index of leading economic indicators. 'The latest decline in the leading index reflects a loss of forward momentum,' said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein, citing 'worries about where economic growth will come from now that tax refunds have been spent.'"

Snow's doublespeak is impressive, no?