STEPPING ON THEIR OWN LINES:

The Curse of the Dubya (DAVID E. SANGER, 9/15/02, NY Times)

By market measures, last week was a bad one for Mr. Bush. The president's powerful indictment of Iraq in the United Nations may have converted some to
his cause, but was followed by a 202 point drop in the Dow.

The White House shrugged it off, pointing out that the real measure of success is whether allies who had been skeptical of confronting Saddam Hussein are now re-thinking their position.

"The real question," one administration official said, trying his best not to sound defensive, "is how did the Iraqi market do?"

After Mr. Bush's last big speech, about corporate conduct, the Dow dropped 179 points. And after one at the Reichstag in Berlin it fell 112 points.

So, wait a second, after three years of telling us that Mr. Bush is the craven lapdog of big business is the Times now telling us that Mr. Bush's ideas are opposed by business? Shouldn't they be apologizing for approximately 472 previous editorials that they just now realize unfairly impugned his motivations? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 15, 2002 8:09 AM