From a reader;

Jonah – Each of your pro-Kerry correspondents take pains to point out how poorly the country has fared under George W. Bush, and how those who support him (especially you…) are destroying the country. Let’s see, last time I checked, 1) The stock market is at an all-time high, thus
2) Retirement accounts are at last recovering.
3) Unemployment is at a 25-year low,
4) Taxes are at 20-year lows,
5) Federal revenues are at all-time highs,
6) The Federal deficit is down almost 50%,
7) Real estate values have soared,
8) Inflation is at a 20-year low,
9) There have been no successful attacks since 9/11,
10) Al Queda is being taken apart, one body at a time.
11) U.S. and British Intelligence have thwarted a number of attacks.
12) The terrorists are flocking to Iraq to be killed, instead of boarding planes for this country.
If any of your writers were as honest they dare you to be, they would admit that, if the president who had accomplished this in the face of such difficulty had a “D” after his name instead of an “R”, they would be singing his praises to the heavens. But no, the country is falling apart. Only if a Democrat takes the White House will everything instantly be perfect again.

Update: From a reader:

Dear Jonah,
Printing inaccurate letters like the one from your reader does not help
bolster your case. For example, unemployment was at its low before Bush
took office:
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref3
The deficit is not down 50%, as there was a surplus before Bush entered
and the deficit is near record numbers and created its record under
Bush. Whit the Dow is at record levels, the S&P 500, a much better
measure is still not yet at its highs. Inflation was at a lower level in
1998, which is tied with 2002 as the low.
Has it all been bad? No. Is there some good in Bush’s economic
stewardship? Yes. But your reader’s letter would have been better
targeted at Clinton bashers in the 90s rather than current Bush bashers.
Printing inaccurate/misleading letter does not bolster your case.

Me: For the record, this was not “my case.” Not every email I post speaks for me. If they did, I’d post less hate mail. Also, I don’t recall a lot of “Clinton bashers” around here claiming the economy was awful in the latter years of the Clinton administration.