LARRY ELDER COMMENTARY: Are Democrats Winning The Battle On Ethics And The Economy?

No, argues the black libertarian Republican commentator: "Can the Bush administration get just a little bit of credit? The unemployment rate just dropped from 4.7 percent to 4.6 percent. The Washington Post, not exactly a Bush administration cheerleader, recently wrote 'that just about every worker with the skills and desire to work can find a job.' Yet the same article cited its own poll that shows only 39 percent of Americans approve of Bush's handling of the economy, with 59 percent disapproving. The tax cuts, as tax-cutting former President John F. Kennedy predicted, sparked the economy. Kennedy once said that it may sound 'paradoxical,' but in order to increase tax revenues, we must decrease tax rates. Under Bush, 'tax collections have increased by $521 billion in the last two fiscal years,' reports The Wall Street Journal, 'the largest two-year revenue increase -- even after adjusting for inflation -- in American history.' Even with the irresponsible spending, this puts the deficit at 2 percent of GDP, well below the recent 40-year average of 2.7 percent. Inflation and interest rates remain low. And labor analysts just revised upward the figures on job creation, adding an additional 810,000 jobs!.....Consider the last 30 years, when the House instituted post-Watergate ethics guidelines. The tally, as of late 2004, over the same period, comes to 70 House members who faced investigations for ethical misconduct: 55 Democrats and 15 Republicans.....Juanita Broaddrick, a volunteer for Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton's gubernatorial campaign, accused him of rape. Yet Clinton defenders simply dismissed her as a liar, just as they dismissed, minimized or attacked others claiming to have had affairs with the married Clinton. Mistresses include Arkansas 'saloon singer' Gennifer Flowers. Clinton initially denied having an affair with her, but later admitted, under oath, to one sexual encounter. The president, of course, famously wagged his finger and denied intern Monica Lewinsky's claim of a sexual relationship. Meanwhile, Clinton defenders played hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil. In the case of former Republican Congressman Foley, he promptly resigned after the revelation of sexually explicit e-mails to a former page. Despicable? Yes. Rape? No. In any case, the Republican Party dumped him faster than you can say 'Ken Starr.'"