Booming Through The Stonewall Of Silence

The Dow set a new record this week. U.S. consumer confidence rose sharply in September. Also in September the Bush Boom surpassed the post-WWII average of fifty-seven months’ length, proving once again, as if further proof is necessary…well, any number of things: (1) the Bush Boom has legs; (2) it was triggered and continues to be sustained by the Bush tax cuts; (3) the Democrats have been wrong, are wrong, and always will be wrong about tax cuts.

Ditto their anti-"Big Oil" BS from last spring, which Rich Lowry had a ton of fun chronicling Tuesday:

When will someone call for an investigation of the oil companies for their latest transgression? In a blatant and unconscionable violation of their responsibility to their shareholders, oil executives are apparently manipulating the market to drive down prices and their own profits.

Why? Perhaps they enjoy the power rush that comes from yanking around such a vast worldwide market. Perhaps they are feeling less greedy this month. Perhaps they grew bored with rising prices. Whatever the reason for the drop in the price of gas lately, it cannot simply be a product of the forces of the free market — at least not if we remember the rhetoric of Democrats just a few months ago.

Back then, Democrats issued thunderously stupid denunciations of oil executives for engineering the price increases, and blamed the Bush Administration for not doing anything to stop it….[but a]s Cato Institute energy expert Jerry Taylor patiently explains for the umpteenth time, the price of gas always increases in the spring, in advance of the surge of demand in the summer driving season, and then declines in the fall, when demand slackens.

This is an entirely predictable economic rhythm. So, with their spring-time demagoguery over increasing prices, Democrats set a trap for themselves in the fall, just as the election heated up. Brilliant. They created their own pro-Bush "September Surprise."

I gotta differ with Lowry on one thing. Today’s plunging pump prices aren’t a Big Oil conspiracy; they’re just the minions. It has to be a Karl Rove conspiracy. Because, you know, Karl Rove rules the world. Or so we’ve been told.

How can you not love this bit of springtime prophesying from The Other Senator From Connecticut:

"I think the American public on this issue, on this issue alone, may decide the election this fall," said Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd.

Hey, he said it, I didn’t.