With the race to succeed him reaching a critical juncture, President Bush this morning began rallying the Republican base around its presumptive nominee, John McCain, and in the process tried to define his own legacy for the general election campaign to come.
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Bush offered an implicit endorsement of McCain's bona fides as a true conservative in the face of deep skepticism on the right. Although he did not mention McCain by name, the president said whoever ends up being the Republican nominee will represent conservative values.
"We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond," Bush said. "The stakes in November are high. . . . Prosperity and peace are in the balance. So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008."
The stakes in November are high. Prosperity and peace are in the balance. Who writes this stuff for King George The Deciderer? Bizarro World. Let us look at the Bush administration's "prosperity and peace." First up, prosperity:
Stocks slammed by economic outlook; The Dow fell more than 60 points due to traders' uncertainty surrounding bond insurers and whether they will be able to handle the huge losses due to the value of mortgage-backed bonds.
Consumer borrowing slowed again in December; The Federal Reserve reported that consumer borrowing slowed to a rate of 2.1 percent in December after a jump of 8.2 percent in November. It is the weakest showing since April's 1.6 percent. Economists forecast that total credit would rise by $8 billion. The actual increase was $4.5 billion to $2.52 trillion.
Oil prices rise back above $91 a barrel; Oil futures rose above $91 Friday, building upon concerns that oil exports would fall in Nigeria, the North Sea oil production, and Russian crude oil fields.
Service sector contracted sharply in January; The Institute of Supply Management reported that the nation's service sector contracted for the first time in five years. The ISM's new composite index for measuring the health of the service sector was 44.6 in January. A number below the level of 50 indicates an economic contraction. Non-manufacturing business activity fell to 41.9 in January, from a revised reading of 54.4 in December. The last time the ISM reported a service sector slowdown was in March 2003.
U.S. employers slashed payrolls in January; The nation's employers cut 17,000 jobs in January. This is the first such reduction of jobs in more than four years, renewing fresh signs that the economy is in danger of heading into a recession. The Labor Department's report showed that the unemployment slipped slightly to 4.9 percent, from 5 percent, showing that the civilian labor force shrank slightly. Job losses were widespread in manufacturing, construction, professional and business services. These job cuts swamped the job gains in education, health care, and retail.
Consumer spending anemic in December; The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose slighly up to just 0.2 percent during the Christmas shopping season of December. This was down sharply from a 1 percent gain in December.
Economy nearly stalled in last quarter of 2007; The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy nearly stalled in the fourth quarter with a growth rate of 0.06 percent. For all of 2007, the economy grew by 2.2 percent--the weakest performance in five years.
This is prosperity, according to King George The Deciderer in his speech at the CPAC conference.
But what about peace? Surely the U.S. is at peace with King George at the helm. Let us look at how our nation is at peace:
Gates: Europe still angry over Iraq invasion; Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged that European allies are reluctant to heed the Bush administration's calls for more combat troops in Afghanistan due to lingering anger over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
US military: 5 soldiers killed in Iraq; In an MSNBC news story, "The U.S. military said five soldiers were killed Friday in two separate incidents in Iraq. Four soldiers died when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while the troops were on a combat patrol northwest of Baghdad, the military said. In violence near Tikrit, another soldier and killed and three others wounded in an explosion near their vehicle as thy carried out operations in Tamim province, the military said in a statement."
Fear of Iraqi upheaval in Shiite cleric’s twilight; Fears are starting to grow in Washington and Baghdad about the health of Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and the potential danger of a power vacuum exploding in the Shiite region after a possible death of al-Sistani. The worst-case scenario for the Bush administration would be that if al-Sistani's clout wanes, the Shiites could splinter into factions that could "rattle Iraq's Shiite-led government and boost militias openly hostile to Washington." Al-Sistani has not been seen in public since a brief appearance in August of 2004.
U.S.: Al-Qaida video shows boys in training; U.S. raids on suspected al-Qaeda hide-outs in Iraq have revealed videotapes that show the terror group training young boys to kidnap and assasinate civilians. This videotape footage show "an apparent training operation with black-masked boys — some of whom appeared to be about 10 years old — storming a house and holding guns to the heads of mock residents. Another tape showed a young boy wearing a suicide vest and posing with automatic weapons."
US military deaths in Iraq at 3,953; This headline really says it all. We are rapidly approaching 4,000 U.S. dead in this failed Bush war in Iraq.
So is this peace, as according to King George The Deciderer?
Or am I living in Bizarro World, where up is down, war is peace, depression is prosperity? And King George is the greatest president since....George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? Ronald Reagan?
Update: Here is a nice little story from Countdown, where Kieth Olbermann talks about President Bush's CPAC speech, and his "endorsement" of John McCain. From YouTube:
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