AP praises economy - sort of

The AP, never one to give up its Bush-bashing easily, does its best to downplay the country's sizzling economy.

President Bush, working to retool the Republican message for 2006, is trying to shift public attention to something in short supply during his almost five years in office: a run of good economic figures.

Hoping to keep a spotlight trained on the economy while Bush mounted a concentrated defense of his Iraq policies . . .

On Monday, it was Snow's turn to Christmas-shop for the cameras.

Suddenly, the president's economic team is getting a measure of respect - something it didn't get much of in his first term.

. . . exuding an optimism not shared by many Democrats.

. . . help shift public attention away from casualties in Iraq.

"But the president has very few things that he can brag about right now."

"Many families are spending the holidays still in tent cities."

Some potential problems that economists see lurking:

Followed by a list of the usual suspects: gasoline prices, extra cold winter (what about global warming - how could we possibly have an extra cold winter?), inflation too high, interest rate hikes to halt too high inflation too high - will stall economy, dollar value too high against other currencies, yada, yada, yada.

Americans living in tent cities? Where is that?

I cannot determine from the tone of this "news report" whether it is dripping with sarcasm or dripping with envy.

TAGS: Bush bashing, Associated Press, AP, economy