On this Sunday's Meet the Press, host David Gregory allowed Romney adviser Ed Gillespie to make the exact same distortion on George W. Bush's record on job creation that he made on his show almost two years ago. And just like two years ago, Gregory failed to call out Gillespie for intentionally misleading the viewers.
I had not seen this site before and just happened to come across it today, but it seems they quit updating the site back in September of 2010, which is a shame, because as they note at the top of the page, Meet the Press does not fact check its guests. Here's their entry on Gillespie from July of 2010 -- FACT-CHECK: Ed Gillespie – After the Bush tax cuts, there were 52 months of continuous job creation, the largest such period in American history:
The following is a fact-check from the July 11, 2010 episode of Meet the Press:
ED GILLESPIE (Republican Strategist)
1) After the Bush administration tax cuts, there were 52 months of continuous job creation – TRUE
2) 52 months of job creation is the largest such period in American history - TRUE
MR. GILLESPIE: Well, my point was not wanting to go back to the math because the fact is, under the Bush tax cuts, we did have 52 months of–in uninterrupted job creation, longest in the history of the country…
According to both CBS News and FactCheck.org, jobs were created for an uninterrupted period of 52 months from August 2003 to December 2007, which was indeed a record for consecutive job growth in the U.S. But as FactCheck.org points out, looking only at this record could be misleading, for while it is indeed the longest consecutive period of job creation, the number of jobs created during that period was not especially large. 8.3 million jobs were added between August 2003 and December 2007, but over the course of the Clinton administration, for instance, 22.7 million jobs were added during a period when there were also seven months which included declines (thus making that growth non-continuous). Therefore it would be difficult to argue that this was either a period of particularly substantial job creation or that the record continuity of that creation was ultimately more significant. It’s also not clear what role the Bush tax cuts had to play with regards to the job creation rate.
1) Because Mr. Gillespie’s statement that there were 52 months of continuous job creation is technically true, we must rate it TRUE - but believe that the overall context is somewhat misleading. 2) We rate Mr. Gillespie’s statement that the 52 month growth period was the largest in American history TRUE.
I take issue with their characterization that Gillespie's statement "could be" only "somewhat misleading." It's intentionally misleading to try to distort George W. Bush's record on job creation, which even The Wall Street Journal correctly noted was "the worst track record on record."
So despite the fact that George W. Bush actually had a terrible record on job creation, left the United States' economy falling off of a cliff and that we already know their failed policies of trickle-down economics don't work, we've got Gillespie pretending they did and calling for more of the same; tax cuts and deregulation.
Transcript via NBC below the fold.
DAVID GREGORY: Let me move to the economy. As I said at the outset, I watched Governor Romney's speech very carefully this week. And there were parts of it that I think got a lot of people talking about the sort of campaign he's going to run and what the major messages will be. He went on the offense during this victory speech, talking about the president's record. And let me play one portion of that.
(videotape)
MITT ROMNEY: He's asking us to accept that Washington knows best and can provide all. We've already seen where that path leads. It erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it's supposed to help. Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty around.
(end videotape)
DAVID GREGORY: Let me focus on freedom as he uses it in that particular portion of the speech. And we know that taxes are going to be a huge issue in the fall campaign. Will freedom be eroded for wealthier Americans if they resume paying tax rates that they paid under President Clinton, a time of low unemployment and high economic growth for the country?
ED GILLESPIE: Well, David anytime you take from someone by virtue of taxation there's an erosion of freedom. Anytime you impose excessive regulations there's an erosion of freedom. Anytime you impose a government mandate there's an erosion of freedom. And what you have in a government-centered economy like President Obama has put forward are fewer jobs, stagnant incomes, higher prices for gas and electricity.
What you would have under a President Romney in a pro-growth economic agenda would be more jobs, rising incomes and lower prices for gas and electricity. The fact is we have 23 million Americans today who are either underemployed or unemployed as as result of President Obama's policies. You just saw that the GDP rate for the first quarter of this year was 2.2%. Very disappointing. We would have a much more vigorous recovery. Most Americans, it's not surprising, don't even believe we're in a recovery right now because of this president's policies. So--
DAVID GREGORY: Be he didn't-- (OVERTALK) --free enterprise when you had the Bush tax cuts over a course of eight years. You say we have--
ED GILLESPIE:
There were jobs--
(OVERTALK)
ED GILLESPIE: --there were 52 months of uninterrupted job creation under President Bush as a result of those tax cuts. That's the longest actually in American history. The longest period of uninterrupted job creation. Under this president what we're seeing is the stifling effect of excessive government regulation, constant call for raising taxes, a tax on businesses and major employers and that's the reason that we're not able to actually generate job creation in this country today is because of this excessive government intervention in our economy that-- that-- we would be better off with a little more freedom and there'd be a lot more growth.
