Bush says tax cuts responsible for growing economy
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - As Americans question his Iraq policy, President Bush crowed about the strength of the U.S. economy on Saturday and credited his hotly debated tax cuts for the growth.
Bush was upbeat in his weekly radio address a day after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added 207,000 jobs last month, a stronger-than-expected gain.
"Recent economic reports show that our economy is growing faster than any other major industrialized nation," he said from his ranch in central Texas.
The bright economic news was in contrast to the Iraq war, where at least 27 U.S. troops were killed in the past week. A CBS News poll on Wednesday said 55 percent of Americans did not approve of the way Bush was handling the Iraq war, compared with 41 percent who approved.
A group called Gold Star Families for Peace, relatives of soldiers who have died in Iraq and other wars, plans to protest in tiny Crawford on Saturday, demanding Bush withdraw U.S. troops.
Amazing how in an article that is ostensibly about the recent good economic news we've been enjoying and its relation to the Bush tax cuts Reuters still can't help but mix in a few paragraphs of negativity about the war in Iraq.
Its almost as though they're afraid to ever report anything too complimentary about the President.
There is this, though, from the end of the article:
Bush spoke at the end of the first week of his 33-day working vacation. He has a busy week ahead of him.
On Monday, he goes to New Mexico to sign a $14.5 billion energy bill and on Wednesday he visits Illinois to put his signature to a $286 billion highway bill.
At the ranch on Tuesday, he will meet his economic team and on Thursday will play host to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
So much for all that media snark about the President's "vacation" we heard earlier this week.