GIVING AS GOOD AS THEY GOT? NOT! :

The economy Bush inherited (Washington Times, August 2, 2002)

Al Gore returned to Capitol Hill last week for the first time in 18 months and delivered a fiery speech fiercely criticizing the economic policies of the Bush administration. Having inherited what he and Bill Clinton repeatedly characterized as "the worst economy in 50 years," the former vice president asserted that the Clinton-Gore administration built "the strongest economy in history." The facts prove otherwise. [...]

[E]conomic growth in 1992, Bush the first's last year in office, measured on a fourth-quarter-over-fourth-quarter basis, exceeded 4 percent. In fact, during the second half of 1992, the annual rate of economic growth was 4.2 percent, or more than five times the annual growth rate for the last six months of the Clinton-Gore administration.

That "worst economy in 50 years" bit is appalling. No one who was alive in 1979, with double-digit inflation, unemployment, and interest rates should have the nerve to pretend that the 1991-92 recession was even significant. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 3, 2002 6:00 AM