More deceptive crap

David sent me an email the other day from the John Kerry web site claiming a "record deterioration in the Middle Class Misery Index." Now, I'd heard of the Misery Index, and just figured that this was another name for an economic indicator that had been around for a while. Well, thanks to FactCheck.org, I know that's not the case. It turns out that this is just a marketing tactic made up by the Kerry campaign. Rather than being a useful tool for economists to judge the state of our economy, it's an index that looks fairly well tailored by the Kerry campaign to make Bush look bad.

Don't get me wrong. I think that Bush's tax cuts are fiscally unwise and bad for our economy. But don't try to bullshit me by making up something technical-sounding but ultimately self-serving. I mean, had the Middle Class Misery Index wound up having hit it's low point during the Clinton years, but recovered during Bush II's administration, would it have ever been heard of outside some conference room at Kerry Campaign HQ? I think not.

And to doubly piss me off, the stock email I got from the Kerry campaign doesn't say that they invented this index. The fact that it's name so closely resembles that of an existing index makes me think that it was so named in order to confuse readers, as I was. Nowhere in the original email does it say that this index was recently invented by the Kerry campaign, and on the Kerry web page press release, the only indication that it was is in the fact that it's called a "new measure of the pressure faced by American families." (Apparently, the pressures faced by single Americans are not important to John Kerry.)

Kerry campaign people, please don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. If Bush is bad for the economy, say that. If specific policies are especially boneheaded, point them out and let's discuss them. But don't come up with stuff that seems tailored to deceive and confuse me. That just pisses me off and makes me suspicious and actually less likely to believe you.