Democrats won't give Bush credit for gains

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Democrats yesterday downplayed the strongest quarterly economic growth in 19 years, refusing to give President Bush credit and stressing still-lagging job creation, while Republicans gloated over the news.

"President Bush has compiled the worst economic record since the Great Depression, and it is going to take a lot more than one quarter of growth to clean it up," said Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean in a statement.

"The real measure of a strong economy is when average Americans see real benefits and the people who lost their jobs under President Bush are working again," he said.

Sen. John Edwards, North Carolina Democrat and presidential aspirant, did not even wait for the 7.2 percent growth in the gross domestic product to be announced yesterday before issuing a "prebuttal" on the "spin" he expected from the White House.

"The Bush administration has dug a hole so deep and so wide that it's going to take a lot more than one quarter to get back on solid ground," Mr. Edwards said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, scoffed at such suggestions, saying yesterday's "historic news" is proof that "the president's economic 'strategery' is working."

"It's now clear, we are in the middle of a major job-creating economic recovery, or as the Democrats might call it, 'a risky prosperity scheme,'" he said.

"Despite the rhetoric of the political prophets of gloom and doom, the president's tax cuts haven't thrown the economy into a tailspin," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican. "In fact, they have spurred a remarkable turnaround."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, however, claimed that "Democrats have offered a better approach to jobs and economic growth."