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The Republicans run into a lot of trouble because of the morality card. The Republican Party claims to be the party of Moral Values and Religion, but one of the most crucial aspects of the very identity of American Christianity is its divided nature. Bush has found himself attacked by fundamentalist supporters for not destroying abortion and evolution education in the United States; while at the same time, bishops of the United Methodist Church (of which GW purports to be a member) declare that the war in Iraq is unjust and evil. When the Republican Party’s true colors are exposed by corruption scandals and sex scandals, that already fractural base tends to shatter.

-Will McLeod, Emory, Virginia, USA.

You miss the point that the improvement in these economic indicators have manly effected the wealthy and have had little effect on most Americans. High productivity has not translated into higher wages. The number of Americans owning stock is far lower than it was six years ago, and when looked at over that period of time, the market increases have been rather modest. Most middle class stock ownership is in retirement and pension funds so higher stock prices do not necessarily improve current income. Low inflation is offset by lower home values and increased debt.
The Bush economy is great for the few at the top, but for most working and middle class Americans, who are faced with massive debt, stagnate wages and job insecurity, the economy is anything but strong.

Indeed the economy is doing better but "values" are not the only things on the minds of most voters. Many Americans are simply fed up with the fact that Congress is doing absolutely nothing even though war is raging in Iraq and concern is mounting over illegal immigration. The scandals and corruption of the GOP don't help either. Yes, Bush is losing touch with his base but Congress is losing touch with America.

If the economy is doing well, it is IN SPITE of what this administration and congress have been doing. Not because of any virtue there. I'm flabbergasted someone in your position is'nt able to make this fundamental distinction.

I am not aware totally about how well the economy is doing, but I hope the assessment is not based soley on the Dow reaching record high levels, because it is not really the best indicator of market performance, especially since the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ aren't performing "as well". Plus I believe the housing market is cooling.

To Richard Greene ´óÏó´«Ã½ News

President Bush does not govern by the changing winds of pollsters. His major focus has been the fight against terrorism.

Thank You

Not to mention failures in Iraq!

Funny how gas prices have dropped well over a dollar a gallon in the run up to the elections. Can anyone point to a reason for the drop? Has Iraq or Iran suddenly become stable? (instability was the reason for the rise).

Bush continues to state that tax cuts are the answer even though we have a rising national debt, the war in Iraq has cost over 400Bn so far and our national deficit is increasing.

Unemployment numbers look ok, but they do not take into account the ‘dumbing down’ factor. Having 100,000 highly trained and paid professionals put out of work due to outsourcing to cheap labour in India and them taking up less paid jobs as replacements.

Personally, I think this administration is doing an ‘Enron’ .. cooking stuff to look great today, but in 5, 10 years time, things will crash big time.

Oh and the rising stock market is great for anyone who has stock worth anything left after the last time they all crashed and people lost all their savings and pensions.

The whole idea of conservative "morality voters" has become a parody of itself. From what I can tell, their "morals" are about horrific oil wars, torture, oppression of gays and other minorities, restricting women's reproductive rights, abandoning the poor, environmental destruction, theocracy and executions. If these are morally strong positions, we are certainly living in bizarro world.

The notion that the Republicans are morally sound is totally absurd. The party of the rich has lost its moral compass. Laws are written by those that are supposed to be regulated, the drug companies and oil companies are making excess profits because our government can be bought, our soldiers are risking life and limb for the Republican lies of WMD and the war on terro, and Iran and terrorists are emboldened by our policies. The Republican leadership has proven itself to be morally bankrupt! Lip service to Christian groups and being opposed to gay rights does not equate to strong morals.

How can we actually gauge the health of the US economy, when the Bush Administration has eliminated or underfunded many of the crucial reports necessary to acurately evaluate the economy.
More smoke and mirrors from the GOP.

Excellent point by Andre (12). Per the Center for Economic and Policy Research:
"Since 2000, Spain, Ireland, Greece and Italy all have managed to create jobs at a faster rate than the United States. The UK and Belgium have matched U.S. job growth rates in the current decade through 2005." Hardly a stellar performance.

"big-picture economic success"? What schlock! Depends whether you’re in a darkroom squinting one-eyed through the pinhole of Bush’s incredible shrinking brain, or staring into the reall world high-noon sun without blinking: New US government borrowing produced 1/3 of economic growth in 2001 and 1/4 in 2003. Bush always hides the fine print, dreams of cancelling the rule of law with signing statements in his magical fooled-you world. But here on planet real we pay ever-increasing bills with ever-declining dollars, work ever-increasing hours with ever diminishing benefits and rights. Hopefully he’ll get a clue to that eye-opening big picture on November 7.

I hope the Republicabs do focus on the economy. That way Americans can ask themselves are you better off than you were 5 years ago.

And the answer would be a resounding NO

Maybe the stock market gang are having a good time, butlife foe the average Americans have become pretty glum.

People bought houses that had over0inflated prices on these syupi interest only or variable interest rates[Don't any of the people have any family or friends to tell them how stupid it was to do this].

And now the housing market has slumped, interest rates are up and they are in BIG trouble.

Further health costs are up, medicines costs more than ever, insurance rates are rising and some insurance cos offer only limited coverage.

College costs have skyrocketed, federal aid for students have flattened and because everyone in hock up to their eyeballs, have credit problems, parents are havig trouble qualifying to get loans for their kids for college.

And don't get me started about how the major oil co.s had the best profits in their history but also got huge tax breaks will middle class Americans were trying to cope with the high gas prices-which has the effect to drive all product costs up due to the increased price of delivery.

The Republicans might have gotten away with telling people that their situation was unique except forthe fact that everyone they know is in the same boat.

Maybe the Republicans should just stick with talking about Iraq

Anne R. #14 has made some very good points. and I think it brings us to Americans #1 value. Besides the question are you better off than you were 5 years ago?

The one that hits Americans right between the eyes is: "Will you kids be better off than you were?"

And considering the national debt is estimated at 8 trillion dollars, I would have to answer another resounding NO.

"Funny how gas prices have dropped well over a dollar a gallon in the run up to the elections. Can anyone point to a reason for the drop? Has Iraq or Iran suddenly become stable? (instability was the reason for the rise)." --# At 03:34 PM on 24 Oct 2006,
# by Edward

Did you forget the recently-discovered huge oil reservoir that was discovered nearby?
Politics may affect the gas prices, but not that much. I believe there is a bluff caused by the new-found oil tap.