Watching Clinton’s semi-confession

So… now that she’s “suspended” her campaign, and has thrown her full support behind Barack Obama, will her supporters vote for him? Or do you think they’re going to continue to be “Hillary or I go home” protesters?

“Slow growth” and another stimulus

I’m not even going to come up with a clever lead-in. Apparently Bush liked the stimulus package so much, he’s open to the idea of a second one.

But analysts believe consumers still are anxious, and a weakening job market could make people feel less inclined to spend. This, and talk that the economy already has fallen into its first recession since 2001, has led to questions about whether a second stimulus might be warranted.

The first one provided rebate checks for individuals and extra tax breaks for businesses. The White House has insisted it needed to wait to see the full effects of the existing stimulus before discussing any new steps.

The president did not unveil any new proposals during his speech, nor even hint whether he believes any are necessary.

…

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush was very concerned about high energy prices and the need to increase domestic oil exploration and production. She said there was no imminent announcement of any new economic stimulus.

Now is it just me, or is this monumentally dumb? I understand he hasn’t said there’s another stimulus coming, but he’s not ruled it out either. From a pure “hey aren’t you a conservative” standpoint, another round of free checks from the government makes little sense. After all, the free market is all about letting the people do what they will and just assume it’ll do fine on its own. What’s this government handout crap?

Aside from that, it’s almost like he’s trying to salvage his reputation in the last six months of his presidency by tossing a load of checks at the middle class. Sort of a “hey, sorry for sending all your kids to war, maybe you can buy him an Xbox if he gets back.”

Oh and hey, this is kinda cute.

Bush noted that a surge of young new entrants to the job market contributed to the worse-than-expected numbers. But, he said, “it’s clearly a sign that is consistent with slow economic growth.”

He said that in response to the DOW collapse, the unemployment spike, housing collapse, the lower and lower value of the dollar, and surging oil prices. Yes. That’s INCREDIBLY slow growth. So slow a layman might almost think it’s going the other way.