Ask Not For Whom the Cowbell Tolls; It Tolls for John Kerry

The booming economy is forcing Democrats to attempt to better balance their message between "specious claims" and "total fucking bullshit":

...Democrats are edging away from their charges that President Bush is presiding over a "jobless recovery," which has been a staple of their campaign rhetoric. That argument is giving way to the line of attack that working America is suffering a "middle-class squeeze."

Yesterday, a statistical duel broke out between the two campaigns, with Bush aides releasing a two-page "policy memo" comparing the U.S. economy in 1996 and 2004, purporting to show that conditions were about as good as they were during Mr. Clinton's re-election bid. The list showed numbers like short-term job growth about comparable, while the Bush era registered more money spent at restaurants, per capita, and more passengers taking cruises. Four hours later, the Kerry campaign shot back with its own data page accusing their rivals of "misleading statistics" and slower wage growth and faster tuition growth under Mr. Bush than Mr. Clinton.

A USAToday editorial, meanwhile, calls "shenanigans" on Kerry's "Middle-Class Misery Index":

Kerry's downbeat economic talk may be inevitable for a candidate challenging an incumbent's record in the wake of a recession. But as the economy blooms, his index's credibility is wilting...

Exaggerating the nation's economic misery is not wise policy or politics. The nation is looking for an upbeat problem-solver, not a gloomy naysayer.

And a tangible political upshot to all this is Kerry's frighteningly small lead over Bush in New Jersey, 46-40, despite Al Gore's 16 point margin in 2000. Furthermore 54% of New Jerseyans think the Iraq War was wrong. So why isn't Kerry doing better in New Jersey?

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that New Jersey is one of the states doing best under The Bush Boom.

New Jersey could be a leading indicator of what the rest of the nation will be feeling come November. And that doesn't bode well for John Kerry.

Here's a small factory-refurbished cowbell I was able to get at a discount price:

Update: This guy's worth reading, too:

Forgive me while I leak information vital to our national security: The economy is kicking butt.

I assume this must be closely guarded information because you have to go deep undercover to find it in The New York Times or The Washington Post.