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Gasket blown

The White House has again used its official blog to attack the media, this time with a combative post directed at an automotive outlet that posted data showing that taxpayers were on the hook for $24,000 for each car sold under the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

Edmunds.com, an online car-buying guide, reported Wednesday that Cash for Clunkers paid out $24,000 for every car that was brought to market under the program, which issued rebates between $3,500 and $4,500 toward the purchase of a fuel-efficient car. Edmunds said its data showed only 125,000 of the 690,000 cars sold during the time the rebates were offered could be attributed to the program, leading to the high cost per vehicle.

“The rest of the sales would have happened anyway, regardless of the existence of the program,” the Edmunds report said.

White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips wrote a sarcastic post about Edmunds on the executive branch’s official blog, saying, “In other words, all the other cars were being sold on Mars, while the rest of the country was caught up in the excitement of the Cash for Clunkers program.”

Mr. Phillips also said the Edmunds analysis appeared “designed to grab headlines and get coverage on cable TV,” was based on “implausible assumptions” and was “bombastic,” among other things. He ended by urging White House blog readers to “put on your space suit and compare” their analysis versus Edmunds.

Edmunds responded with a much more level-headed statement:

“Apparently, the $24,000 figure caught many by surprise. It shouldn’t have. The truth is that consumer incentive programs are always hugely expensive when calculated by incremental sales - always in the tens of thousands of dollars. Cash for Clunkers was no exception. The White House claims that our analysis was based on car sales on Mars, and that on Earth, the marketplace is connected. We agree the marketplace is connected. In fact, that is exactly the basis of our analysis … With all respect to the White House, Edmunds.com thinks that instead of shooting the messenger, government officials should take heart from the core message of the analysis: The fundamentals of the auto marketplace are improving faster than the current sales numbers suggest. Isn’t this a piece of good news we can all cheer?”

Read the bill

Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, Louisiana Republican, wanted to make sure his constituents would be able to read the 1,990-page health care bill unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week. So he instructed his staff to make 17 copies of the bill and drop them off at his district’s local libraries and law schools on Friday.

Mr. Cao’s communications director, Princella Smith, said the copies were made at their office’s own expense, at roughly 3 cents per page. Mr. Cao also carried his own copy of the bill, which filled more than two large binders, on his flight home to New Orleans, where he spent his weekend studying the legislation.

Still bashing Bush

Just as they did in the 2008 elections, Democrats running in the top 2009 elections in New Jersey, New York and Virginia have sought to tie their Republican or conservative opponent to former President George W. Bush. Here’s a sampling of the attacks:

“Voters have a clear choice on Tuesday: They can elect to go back to the George Bush economic agenda, or they can vote to move forward,” read a statement released Saturday by Democrat Bill Owens, who is opposing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman for New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat.

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