Since it’s not on the homepage yet, and I’m about to hit the road, here’s my column on the Democrats and their burning desire and tendency to talk-down the economy.The opener:

The US economy — yes, that economy — grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate last quarter. This no doubt caused consternation at the highest levels of the Democratic Party, perhaps forcing some to consider a new convention film at the last minute: “Dude, Where’s My Recession?”
To hear the Democrats at their convention this week, you’d get the sense that a recession is merely a technical term for the worst human misery ever visited upon a once-great people. You’d think Americans were listening to the Democratic speeches as they huddled around their kitchen tables (if they hadn’t already been used for firewood), deciding which of their children to pack off to the orphanage and how much tree bark they can afford to eat next week.
Last night, Barack Obama proclaimed: “Our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.” He went on to describe an America reminiscent of the Grapes of Wrath (if not Mad Max).
But this was a week-long theme. Over and over again, Democrats insisted that the “American dream” is being snuffed out, crushed, beaten, stabbed and quite possibly dismembered in President Bush’s West Wing bathtub, where Bush and Dick “The Cleaner” Cheney can dissolve the remains in sulfuric acid. …