On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:
> > although i know you're probably right to laugh at kerry's claim about
> > the economy [that this was the worst economy since the depression]
>
> It's preposterous! When you have only 45 seconds, there's no time for
> nuance. I was genuinely stunned that he'd said something so stupid.
Was it something you guys were talking about before you came on? I saw you ask "Who said that?" but I never heard what made you ask.
Also I was wondering -- is it certain Kerry actually said this? Because it doesn't sound like him. If Kerry has one pervasive quality (and defining fault), it's that he never says anything simple, bold and critical (all of which this sentence is, even though it's also flaming wrong). I can't imagine Kerry saying something like without 8 qualifiers -- by which time, it wouldn't really be this.
My hunch would be that what Kerry really said (with lots of hemming and hawing) was that Bush has so far had the worst job creation record of any president since the great depression. And that someone at Fox paraphrased that to Cavuto as "Kerry said this is the worst economy since the depression."
My working assumption is that if someone on Fox quotes a Democrat saying something that sounds too bad to be true, it probably is. It's doesn't always work out that way, but it seems like the way to bet.
But that said, I gotta hand it to them -- your two minute debate was damn good TV for something on Fed policy. I hope they invite you back. You really look like you're getting comfortable on TV. You're developing a distinctive style -- that summary of Greenspan's career is the only sound bite I've ever heard with 7 distinct parts :o) But it worked!
Michael