[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Democrats' feeble attempt to polish a turd.

[paudio]

I’m quite pleasantly surprised that msm took this are-you- better-off issue. Various news outlet have an article on Ryan’s speech.

[VeniVidiVici]

The Democrats' feeble attempt to polish a turd.

Yup.

[P.O.E.]

“Inflation, which was almost zero when Obama took office, is higher but remains low, 1.4 percent.”

Understating inflation makes GDP growth look bigger than it is, and undercuts outgoing transfer payments. It also lowers the adjustment to federal tax rates, thus increasing “bracket creep”.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp#axzz25UB3eRNX

http://www.shadowstats.com/article/consumer_price_index

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpiadd.htm#5_1

[genghis]

the rats sound crazy trying to answer this question.

[snarkytart]

Don’t worry the media on all levels will try and make people think they are better than four years ago.

[Fresh Wind]

Inflation, which was almost zero when Obama took office, is higher but remains low, 1.4 percent.

That's a flat out lie.

[wayoverontheright]

There’s something about this “are you better off now” meme that I’m not sure is as powerful as maybe we think.

The Dems CAN polish this turd, with the help of the MSM, and have been doing so for three years.

When Paul Ryan said in Norfolk that “politicians in Washington care more about the next election than they care about the next generation”, I felt this was the reasoning that should guide us. He was making the moral case for fiscal sanity. Making the moral case for capitalism would be the next step, and the campaign’s been doing just that.

The problem with “are you better off” is that many who are dependent upon government are going to answer that question in a way that’s different from when Ronald Reagan was President.

Just my two cents.

[sirchtruth]

Not surprisingly, only 31 percent of Americans say the nation is headed in the right direction, the Washington Post/ABC News poll found.

31% believe we are headed in the right direction for what, DISASTER!?

First of all, these poll results are desperate B.S. Even if the results are not complete nonsense, how could an outrageous 31% of people even be thinking coherently when they say things are moving in the right direction?

Oh, wait...this 31% have to be these people who think they get their "rights" from the Gov't and will vote for Obama again just because he's half-African-American!

[maryz]

“We are going to use this convention to answer those questions,” said Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt. “We're going to have an honest conversation about where we were in 2008 when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 3.5 million jobs lost in the six months before the president took office, manufacturing was in decline, the auto industry was on the brink.

I wish the Republicans weren't so determined (apparently) to distance themselves from Bush and would pound home -- in every race -- the fact that Bush's first 6 years were quite good economically (I read that even the deficit was going down due to increased revenues from the "Bush era" tax cuts). Of course, there's that MSNBC story castigating Bush for playing golf when unemployment had hit 5.4%(!!!). The economy started to tank when the Dems took Congress.

Surely there are Republican staffers who could put together charts showing the economy through those years at least (maybe even go back to Clinton and how the economy was at best lack-luster -- until after '94 when the Republicans took Congress) and how a Dem Congress is a disaster no matter who has the White House!

Comparing now to especially those last months of Bush isn't so dramatic a contrast as they need.