GOP governors say the economy is great. Romney campaign says the economy is terrible. Can't be both

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.freep.com/article/20120519/NEWS07/205190372/Romney-GOP-governors-have-differing-takes-on-economy

Romney, GOP governors have differing takes on economy

<snip>To win, Romney must convince voters -- especially those in the roughly dozen swing states where the race is likely to be decided -- that the situation is so bad that they should give him a chance to do what Obama hasn't been able to do: get the economy really going. snip

In a way, Republican governors aren't making it easy for Romney to make his case.

McDonnell, for one, spent an entire week canvassing his state and used $400,000 from his own political action committee to run TV ads statewide trumpeting a 21/2-year turnaround in job growth and business expansion. Virginia's unemployment rate fell from 7.3% the month he took office in January 2010 -- the depth of the recession -- to 5.6% last month.

Snyder beams when he talks about a jobless rate that has fallen by 2.2 percentage points in his state, Romney's boyhood home, in the past year. And Branstad boasts: "The unemployment rate in Iowa is dropping dramatically, and the kind of jobs that we're creating are the kinds we want."

[Igel]

1. Why not?

The OP says as much. Some states have low unemployment. Economy's improving well. Perhaps not "great", but in a political campaign hyperbole is de rigueur. On both sides.

Nationwide the economy's not doing all that well. Economy's growing at rates that under * we decried as miserable and pathetic. There are all kinds of fantasy "if pigs could fly, look how good things would be!" scenarios out to try to say it's not as sucky as it is.

Houston's unemployment is low. Not as low as 4 years ago, but around 2 percentage points lower than the national economy. The (D) mayor says the economy's good--and she's right. Probably not because of anything she's done in the last couple of years. Such things are secular, not short-term.

Best to see through the over-the-top rhetoric and try to stay focused on whatever facts are around. It's also typically a good idea to figure out if a statement is true when taken as the speaker intended before saying that the person's knowingly trying to deceive you.

[Turbineguy]

2. The state economies are

under the Governor. Things are great, great, great! The national economy is under the President. Did you notice the color of his skin? Well, enough said!