Republicans: Upbeat and Positive, Democrats: Gloom and Doom

The Bush administration spent the better part of Friday trying to allay fears that the country's economy is not headed in the wrong direction. Also, true to form the Democrats, spent the better part of Friday following the Bush administration officials around saying the country is headed straight to hell in a hand basket.

Of course, the Democrats had the media on their side:

In Chicago, Bush noted that Americans' per-capita after-tax income had grown 7% during his time in office - although he did not point out that median household income before taxes had fallen by about 4% [LA Times]

My reply: at least we had the tax cuts or American workers would really be in trouble right now. I am starting to wonder if Democrats and the mainstream media actually want the United States to prosper? Why do democrats and the media temper every bit of good news with bad news? Is the country not suppose celebrate any of our successes? No wonder Democrats are so bitter and pessimistic, they are waiting until we achieve a utopia-nirvana before they admit America just might be a good place to live.

More glass half full / half empty quotes:

"In 2005," the president said, "the American economy turned in a performance that is the envy of the industrialized world, and we did this in spite of higher oil prices and natural disasters. We're strong, and I'm optimistic about the future of this economy."

Public opinion polls indicate that a majority of Americans do not share the president's enthusiasm. [LA Times]

The only reason public opiniono polls don't indicate American's share the President's enthusiasm is because it is hard to be enthusiasticc when everytime you turn around the Democrats are telling you how much economy sucks.

It continues:

"The surprise," said Sung Won Sohn, president and chief executive of Hanmi Bank in Los Angeles, "has been the resilience the economy has shown despite the hurricanes, the jump in oil prices and higher interest rates." But he found some bearish signs in Friday's report, including a decline in the total number of hours worked and a shrinking share of industries hiring new workers. [LA Times]

There always has to be a "but." We certainly couldn't have left the analysis of the economy at merely "resilience...despite the hurricanes, the jump in oil prices and higher interest rates." Nah.

Manufacturing provided an uncustomary bright spot, posting its third straight month of job gains. Construction jobs fell, however, perhaps reflecting a colder-than-usual December after a warm November. [LA Times]

Manufacturing jobs "provided an uncustomary bright spot"juxtaposedd with "construction jobs fell, HOWEVER." Nice.

Oh, and remember the hard press by the Democrats on the minimum wage and how American's can't live on $5.15 an hours? Turns out [surprise] "The Labor Department found that average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents in December to $16.34, an annual rate of about 3.7%." So, American's [on average] are not really affected by the minimum wage. I am shocked, shocked, shocked!

The Los Angeles Time's article predictably ends on a sour note mentioning the consumer index falling. I wonder what the writers felt should be the lasting impression to the readers, the President's rosy outlook or the Democrat's gloom and doom? It is all about the spin, baby.