So Chris Wallace states the obvious to Jon Kyl: That Americans aren't happy with the economic track record of Bush during their eight years in power. And -- shock -- Jon Kyl tells Wallace he's wrong. Wallace is not only wrong, Kyl says, but Americans actually "strongly support" Bush's most important economic policy: the tax cuts for the wealthy of 2001 and 2003.
Not to be outdone, former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie tells the Meet the Press audience that under Bush, the economy was really strong -- because Bush had 55 straight months of job growth at one point. Never mind the fact (detailed below) that Bush has the worst job creation record of any president in recorded history and the median family income declined under his watch.
It's a reminder that despite all the Fox News hype about tea parties, the GOP is still the same old guys, with the same old ideas, and if they get back in power, the same old things are going to happen to our country.
As an addendum, a couple of factual corrections:
- On Kyl's claim that Americans "strongly support" Bush's most important economic policies: the most recent WSJ/NBC poll shows 62% of Americans say they'd be uncomfortable voting for a candidate who supported Bush's economic policies and 40% hold Bush primarily responsible for current economic conditions, about one-and-a-half times as many as blame Obama.
- More Kyl debunking: Taxes aren't a big issue -- even among Republicans, it's third on their list of economic priorities. And in March, Quinnipiac found that 60% of Americans support rolling back tax cuts on the wealthy to manage the deficity.
- Gillespie's claim that the economy was strong under Bush is truly bizarre. On the job creation front, Bush has the worst record of any President since we started keeping track. Median family incomes actually decreased by more than 4%!