Just Say Yes: It’s the Clinton Economy!
October 16, 2003
Ann Coulter noted that "The reason propaganda works is that most people are too involved or too stupid to recognize it as propaganda." The operative methodology of propaganda is to bury its recipient in an overwhelming cascade of disinformation with a central recurring message. When the dust settles, fact has been so opaqued by the swirl of disinformation and imagery, only the message remains. And the message remains powerfully and unquestioned.
For instance, when Coulter released her latest bestseller, "Treason", the drumbeat of the elitist propaganda ministers went something like this, "She went over the top...Her facts are skewed...She’s over the top...Her facts are not in agreement with history...She’s gone over the top...She’s gone over the top...She’s gone over the top...." Shortly after publication of "Treason", I found myself numbed by the number of previously intelligent people who kept telling me that "This time, Coulter’s gone over the top".
In a little game of "cat and mouse", I assumed the persona of Hercule Poirot and asked, "So you’ve read the book?" With a 99th percentile certainty, the answer was "No". "Then what are you basing your assumption on?" "Well, everybody’s saying it." And that’s how propaganda works. They don’t remember, or even know, why Ann Coulter has gone over the top...they just remember "Ann Coulter has gone over the top"...when, in fact, she never did.
And so it is with the Bush Economy". What started before the 2000 presidential election as the Clinton Recession, has, through repetitious disinformation become the "Bush Economy". Sensing a sophomoric predictability about the elite liberals, in April of 2000 I wrote "The Economic Voodoo Doll" and gave fair warning to the Republicans not to let the "Clinton Recession" get morphed into the "Bush Economy". Apparently, the zombie Dem’s are more adroit practitioners of Vodun. In typical fashion, the Republicans have been steadily resolving Clinton’s economic mess while the zombies from the left ritualistically spew obstruction and lies.
Case in point: the serviteurs of economic voodoo from the New York Times recently alerted the populace that, "...the percentage of adults with jobs fell to the lowest level in ten years." In spite of the fact that their high priest, Al Gore, invented the internet, they still couldn’t find the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) homepage. BLS historical data report # LNS14000000 unmistakably shows Clinton’s unemployment for 1993 ranging from a high of 7.3% to a low of 6.5%. The "Bush" unemployment for September 2003 is 6.1%.
The same NYT’s article then makes one of the best pitches for education reform yet offered, "Democrats responded that the current jobs slump was the longest since the 1930's...." Not only are the Democrats liars, but they are just plain stupid.
From 1975 until 1987, unemployment remained almost continuously above 6% and reached into the 10% levels. How can this country seriously consider presidential aspirants who can neither get a fact straight and/or tell the truth? While nobody expects the truth to spew from the NYT’s, the combination of the Times and the Democrats either too; stupid, lazy or dishonest to check some simple facts is...well...voodoo.
Invoking the chant of a high priest, wannabe president Kerry thinks that, "The problem is that the president hasn't done the things the president can do (to improve the economy)". "Mr. Kerry added that the budget deficit had risen more than necessary during the economic slump...." "More than necessary"???? What does that mean? Would Kerry prefer to raise taxes and deprive Americans of even more hard earned dollars during a slow economy? Perhaps he thinks that more gasoline is a good way to fight a fire.
In another "out of body" experience, Kerry thinks, "that the administration should have a tougher trade policy to prevent jobs from moving overseas." In 1993, during the Clinton administration, Kerry voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which in large part removed the obstacles to "prevent jobs from moving overseas". Of course, the NYT’s was too mentally and/or factually challenged to inform their readers of this. Without amnesia, Democrats would all need medication for the ravages of cognitive dissonance. They instigate situations that backfire and, far from taking responsibility for their actions, they just blame the Republicans and call for yet more bad legislation.
Just to protect it’s readership from the impression that Bush may actually be doing a good job, the NYT’s laments that, "At 6.1 percent last month, the jobless rate was below the high of 6.4 percent it hit in June but well above the 30-year low of 3.9 percent in late 2000." It was also well below the 30 year high of 10.8% necessitated by Nobel laureate Jimmy Carter’s stagflation. And at 6.1%, unemployment is .01% above what Milton Friedman called the "natural rate of unemployment" or 6%. But why would the NYT’s dirty its pages with facts?
To imply that a 6.1% unemployment rate is catastrophic is pure propaganda. The components of unemployment are admittedly confusing and that is why the subject makes such great fodder for propagandists. This is the same type of media hype that puts entire cities in panic because the weatherman keeps repeating that a "ferocious" winter storm could "dump" up to 6 inches of snow on the northeast in the middle of January. When, in fact, 6 inches of snow in January and a 6% unemployment rate are both just a sleepy "normal".
But "normal" doesn’t matter...and neither does truth. The message is everything. "Highest Unemployment", "The Bush Economy", "Record Deficit", "The Bush Economy", "The Bush Economy", "The Bush Economy".... But that’s the intent and ravage of political correctness...dogma must trump logic for liars to prosper.
It’s dumbfounding that these little twits at the New York Times, who purport to know everything, don’t ever seem able (or willing) to get the facts straight. Especially if those facts are at odds with the mantras drooling from the mouths of their high Democratic priests.
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