Where is the coverage of an inability to read?

Where is the coverage of an inability to read?

Pull Quote 1: Not Between Your Legs

Bush was peppy when he popped into the Brick House Deli in Anoka, mugged for cameras with owner Angel Howell's 8-month-old daughter, Kate Lynn, and ordered an egg salad sandwich. "Fire one up," he said. He settled for chicken salad when he was told egg salad wasn't on the menu. [emphasis mine]

So either his handlers didn't brief him, or he couldn't read. Should I be encouraged by either prospect?

Pull Quote 2: And he should know...

"You can see confidence in Bush's face," says Republican strategist Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996. "So much of the mood of a campaign is set by the candidate."

How long are recessions normally?

We've been hearing a lot about how the Bush tax cuts in 2001 stopped the recession in its tracks.

Ignoring for the moment that the main reason for the "stoppage" was not any of the cuts in the initial plan, but rather the Democrat-required, opposed-by-the-administration $300 per person "upfront rebate" check that was sent out then, the question becomes: was the 2001 recession shorter than any other?

Apparently, the government and NBER don't believe it was. Here, courtesy of the Census Bureau, is NBER's listing of the post-WW II recessions:

Peak Trough Months

Nov-48 Oct-49 11
Jul-53 May-54 10
Aug-57 Apr-58 8
Apr-60 Feb-61 10
Dec-69 Nov-70 11
Nov-73 Mar-75 16
Jan-80 Jul-80 6
Jul-81 Nov-82 16
Jul-90 Mar-91 8
Mar-01 Nov-01 8

The shortest, the six-month, G. Hillis Miller-inspired, recession at the beginning of 1980, contributed to, and possibly cost, Carter the presidency. The two longest were under Nixon and Reagan.

But the one under the real George Bush was eight months, meaning that three of the last four were eight months or less. Indeed, if we except the second Nixon and the Reagan recessions--where the solutions attempted were WIN buttons and severely increasing deficit spending, respectively--NO post-WW II recession has last more than one quarter LONGER than the 2001 recession.

Crediting long-term tax cuts with a great accomplishment only works if you assume that recessions under modern Republicans last longer. The current resident's father gives the lie to that assumption.

It's nice to see our allies are all democratic

It's nice to see our allies are all democratic, not to mention true to their word.

Remind me again about how those who are "specifically thanked for...help in the war on terror" include a country that still harbors those who attacked, please.

Columbus swift boat vet angry about letter

Columbus swift boat vet angry about letter

Pull Quote: "Had they asked me to use my name, I wouldn't have allowed them to," he said.

So they didn't even ask. Wouldn't it be good to make certain your people agree with you before signing their name? Oh, right, that's only a legal matter, not a publicity one.

Pull Quote 2: "You remember the simple things," he said. "The rest is what you don't want to remember."