Friday the Thirteenth, Part MMMLLXXII
Very scary day for George Bush. Good day to stay in bed. Like a hurricane hitting from all sides, he's got:

1) a drop in consumer sentiment that was as usual "unexpected" from 96.7 to 94 (also known as the "Duh..." report from the University of Michigan -- unfortunately for him, also a swing state). So-called economists thought it would actually rise to 97.2.

2) a trade deficit figure that is the lowest since 9/11. No one is buying what we're selling, but we're buying everyone else's oil like there's no tomorrow. Is it possible we have no trade policy at all? Gap widened to $55.8 billion from $46.9 billion

3) But on the confusing front, producer prices only gained 0.1 percent, but were expected to rise 0.3, showing inflation to be ok at the moment and confirming other reports. So why has Greenspan been raising interest rates, possibly slapping a ceiling on any possible recovery? Drinking the Kool-Aid? Or is he secretly a Democrat?

4) UPDATE: I knew I forgot something. The Electoral Vote Predictor has added the new FL, NJ, OH polls and come up with a Kerry 327/ Bush 211 split. Go there for analysis and other stuff.

Econonic figures summary here , better summary here.

And on top of all that, Report Finds Tax Cuts Heavily Favor the Wealthy:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 - Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be published Friday

And what are those 1 percent (average cut of $78,460 !!) doing with that money? Why, I'm sure most of them are turning around and giving it right back to Bush and the RNC in deepest gratitude.

I think right about now George is looking forward to the destruction of Tampa by terrorist hurricane Charley, so he can stand and look heroic amid the rubble of Centcom:

All residents of MacDill Air Force Base, on another peninsula in Tampa Bay, were ordered out with only essential personnel remaining. MacDill is home to U.S. Central Command, the nerve center of the war in Iraq.

"MacDill Air Force Base will probably be mostly underwater and parts of downtown Tampa could be underwater if we have a Category 3," Nelson said. "In a Category 3, you can almost get to the point where Pinellas County becomes an island."

Sorry, that's mean, and I'm not going to bring up God, but it's what his own people would be saying if Kerry were now in office, and I'm getting kinda sick of being nice all the time. And peeved that the advertised call-in with Bush on Larry King LIVE last night was a taped campaign stop. And the media is fair and unbiased you say?

But on the fun front, check out the timing of these 2 events (via The Note):

—3:15 pm: Sen. Kerry brings the "Believe in America" tour to a close with a rally at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland, OR

—3:15 pm: President Bush speaks at the Small Business Summit, Portland, OR

Plenty of good chuckles left in the day, I'm sure. I will be off to do voter registration about then, so you'll have to watch it for me.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:43 AM | | | Link |