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Bush blames economy on tv war coverage { August 2 2003 }

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/08/02/national/a02080203_03.txt

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/08/02/national/a02080203_03.txt

Saturday, August 02, 2003
National / World News:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bush blames slow economy on TV coverage of war

By The Hearst Newspapers - 08/02/03

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Friday blamed television coverage of the buildup to the Iraq war for contributing to the nation's sluggish economic recovery.

Bush has frequently cited the stock market decline, the brief recession at the outset of his presidency, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the wave of corporate accounting scandals for sapping the confidence of investors and consumers alike.

But for the second time in two days, he also pointed a finger at television networks' pre-war coverage.

"As you may remember, we had the steady drumbeat to war," Bush said in response to a reporter's question about the jobless economic recovery despite three Bush administration tax cuts and 12 interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

"On some TV screens there was a constant reminder for the American people — ‘March to War.' War is not a very pleasant subject in people's minds (and) it's not conducive for the investment of capital."

Bush told a news conference Wednesday that "the drumbeat to war" had slowed economic recovery due in part to an unnamed television network's use of the banner "March to War."

"That's not a very conducive environment for people to take risk, when they hear, ‘March to War' all the time," Bush said.

The major television news networks used a variety of on-screen banners before and during the war to identify their coverage. A White House spokesman did not immediately return a telephone inquiry asking which television network Bush had in mind.

Spokeswomen for Fox News and Cable News Network, the major all-news cable networks, said they had not used the on-screen banner cited by Bush.

Asked about the president's assertion, Stephen Hess, a former White House staffer for four presidents and now a scholar on the presidency and the news media at the independent Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., expressed surprise.

It was Bush's preparations for war against Iraq — rather than television network coverage of his preparations — that dampened economic recovery, he said.

"The president was not very subtle about the march to Baghdad and business leaders took that into account in making their investment decisions," Hess said.

"I doubt very much that business people made their decisions about investments based upon television networks' news banners."

Laurence Meyer, an economist with Macroeconomic Advisors, in St. Louis, said war jitters rather than pre-war television coverage contributed to the paltry recovery.

"There might have been some (television network) hyping here but the main story was that we were marching to war and there were a lot of risks," Meyer told National Public Radio in an interview. "There were concerns about biological, chemical, even nuclear weapons; there were concerns about what would happen to oil supplies and oil prices — this was a major concern for the economy and for the business sector."

Bush's comments came amid mixed economic news. The Labor Department reported Friday that the nation's economy shed 44,000 jobs in July — a smaller decline than the 72,000 jobs lost in June.

The promising drop in the unemployment rate to 6.2 percent in July was due to a 556,000-person decline in the civilian work force and a 470,000-person decline in the number of unemployed people giving up their search for jobs out of frustration; the unemployment rate doesn't count them.

Bush received better news Thursday when the Commerce Department reported the gross domestic product had grown by 2.4 percent between April and June — the strongest showing in nearly a year. The bellwether of national economic activity was stronger than the 1.5 percent growth rate initially predicted by economists.

Ironically, some of the economic growth was attributed to ballooning defense spending to cover the cost of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, now costing taxpayers $3.9 billion a month.

"The economy looks like it might be coming back, so I'm a little surprised that the president would be looking for a scapegoat," Hess said. "I'd say, ‘Mr. President, go on vacation and enjoy yourself. Your patience on the economy appears to be paying off."‘

Bush was scheduled to depart Washington on Saturday for a month-long getaway at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, interrupted periodically by political barnstorming and fund-raising trips.





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