Posted by
Compassionate Conservative on Friday, May 01, 2009 10:34:19 AM
Although, I don't generally pay much attention to the mainstream media, due to its left-wing bias, I do, as I've mentioned, have a subscription to Time. I do this for the same reason that I occasionally watch ABC World News: to know what the other side is saying and to be able to develop logical and factual counterarguments. Time happens to be the least radically liberal publication of its kind; in short, I don't feel the bile rising quite so often when I read it as I do with the other vomit-worthy "news" magazines.
However, I do write rebuttals to some of their silliest articles in the form of letters to their editors. I've never had one published, which doesn't surprise me, given that I disprove their most cherished shibboleths, such as bigger government is better, but I'm persistent. Here is my latest effort:
'Obama and FDR
So Joe Klein thinks Barack Obama’s “start has been the most impressive of any President since F.D.R.” because F.D.R “reinvented American government in the 1930’s.” That’s a great comparison – for the Republicans.
As Vedder and Gallaway demonstrated conclusively with data in their book, Out of Work, President Roosevelt’s New Deal prolonged rather than alleviated the Great Depression. For nearly three consecutive years, beginning in February 1932, the unemployment rate never fell below 20 percent for any month before January 1935, when it fell to 19.3 percent, according to their statistics. By 1939, without the negative impact of new federal labor laws, social security, and unemployment compensation alone, the unemployment rate should have been 6.7 instead of the 17.2 percent it hovered at that year.
Even Robert Morgenthau, Roosevelt’s Treasury Secretary, recognized this fact, saying "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. ... I say after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started and enormous debt to boot."
On the other hand, F.D.R. was reelected twice during his Great Depression as he convinced the American voter that he was actually doing a great job. Maybe that’s the comparison Klein is really referring to.'
As I said, I doubt it will be published, or even looked at seriously, because Time won't have the guts to see any factual criticism of their idol FDR. But now, at least you've seen it.