So I caught bits and pieces of the Sarah Palin interview with Charles Gibson, and while a lot of things struck me as deeply wrong with Gibson’s interview, one turn of phrase really got under my skin. He asked Gov. Palin what changes, if any, she would make to the Bush Economic agenda:

Gibson: . . . Summarize the three things that you’d change in the Bush economic plans. One, two, three.

Palin: Reduce taxes; control spending; reform the oversight and the overseeing agencies and committees to make sure that America’s dollars and investments are protected.

I seem to remember him reiterating several times, that he wanted to know what she would change in Bush’s economic policy. Putting aside the rudeness in snapping “one, two, three” at someone who agreed to sit down for an interview with you (let alone a sitting governor), the problem is that basically, no such policy exists, at least not so far as it has been implemented. At best, Bush’s economic policy consisted of some tax cuts, which he didn’t even have enough political capital to make permanent. They expire in 2011 if I remember correctly.

So Gibson’s question was, in essence, name your top three Bush tax cuts you’d repeal. How silly. At most, you might be able to claim that the Bush tax cuts helped lead to the current budget deficit, but given that receipts are up, it seems more mathematically certain that it’s excessive spending that’s at fault there.

Besides which, what about today’s economic catastrophe was caused by tax cuts? Did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers seek government bailouts because the tax rates were too low? I mean seriously, is anybody in the mainstream media thinking?

What’s even worse is this absurd notion that the economy is somehow controlled by the President of the United States. I know it makes for a simple narrative for the simple minds who run television networks, but the entire economy is not controlled by one man, and economic policy is not controlled by one man. Congress plays an enormous role, as does the Federal Reserve.

Furthermore, so much of what’s causing our housing mess predates the Bush administration by decades even. And has been championed by leading long-term stalwarts in congress, no shortage of whom are Democrats. I mean, Barney Frank has single-handedly protected Fannie and Freddie from proper oversight and regulation for years. Not to mention that things like the home mortgage interest deduction and the creation of Fannie and Freddie themselves predate the Bush administration by decades. And don’t forget about the Fed monkeying with interest rates. So what the heck? What’s with trying to pin our current economic situation on one man? You could argue (and I would) that Bush hasn’t done what he could to help mitigate this, and that his treasury secretary has exacerbated the problems, but surely our problems are more systemic and long-term than one man…

I’m just tired of the stupidity, and the utter one-sidedness of the mainstream media, and their bizarre insistence on ascribing everything about a good economy to the Democrats and everything about a bad economy to the republicans.

So here are a bunch of links I came across this morning. Most of them came from other bloggers, most of them probably from Instapundit. But they’re worth reading through. It’s amazing how Fannie and Freddie basically bought the ability to be corrupt from the congress that was supposed to oversee them. Cleaning up that mess is what Gibson should have been asking about. Unfortunately, many of the bad politicians involved are Democrats involved with the Obama campaign. And the most heavily financed Republican by the now bankrupt Lehman Bros. is none other than John McCain. So don’t hold your breath for any real “change” to happen, no matter who gets elected.

• Detailed expose by the Washington Post. More from the Washington Post on Democrats and Fannie Mae.
• Obama is silent on Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
• Obama and McCain both bought and paid for by Lehman.
• More on crony capitalism.

Will somebody, anybody, say something intelligent to address the housing issue??? I doubt it.

UPDATE:

More links, again, I think they all come from Reynolds, but they just continue to hammer the point home, that this economic crisis is a long term systemic problem, and trying to blame it on Bush is beyond stupid:

• Blame Clinton.
• Blame Chris Dodd and Clinton Cronies.
• Blame central planning, and lookout for Medicaid and Social Security.
• Megan McArdle: Blaming Bush is stupid.
• Look how close Obama is to Lehman.

Prediction: McCain wins this one by a mile. Obama’s connections to Fannie Mae and Lehman Bros. will prove fatal to his campaign, as they are directly related to our current economic mess. Unlike, say, everything that has been thrown at Palin so far and which, rightfully, hasn’t stuck.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bush Economic PLan, Bush Tax Cuts, Charles Gibson, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, John McCain, Lehman Brothers, Sarah Palin

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