Appearing on Fox News today, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao — who is also the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) –Â said that the economy is entirely the Democrats’ fault, not the Bush administrations, by citing the low unemployment in 2007.
Chao dismissed Democratic objections that the Bush administration was responsible for the bad economy, through the costs of war spending and other issues. “You know it’s pretty audacious of them to still claim that. Basically, this is their economy,” said Chao. “In 2007, the unemployment rate was about 4.7%, and now with all this massive government spending the unemployment rate is 10.2%.”
The recession began in 2008, while George W. Bush was still president (and Chao was still Labor Secretary). The large Democratic spending that Chao refers to, presumably the stimulus, did not begin until 2009, when the recession was already well underway.
Also, Fox News introduced Chao as “a former Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush and a Fox News contributor.” Fox never identified Chao for viewers as also being the wife of the Senate Republican leader.
