Rush's Morning Update: Dark Days
October 16, 2009

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Get this, folks. America's largest business group,the US Chamber of Commerce,is spending $25 million on something that in years past would have been considered completely unnecessary: they're launching an advertising campaign to extol the virtues of -- wait for it -- free market enterprise.

Explaining the goals of the campaign, the Chamber president, Thomas Donohue, says that America needs 20 million new jobs to "re-employ the unemployed," and keep pace with our population growth. "The government can support a few jobs in the short run," he told reporters, "but over the long run, only the private sector-- powered by free enterprise-- can keep America working."

Now, when Donohue said the campaign isn't intended to be a partisan, state-controlled journalists were skeptical. AP reported that the Chamber's campaign "appears to challenge some of President Obama's job-creation rhetoric and initiatives." And they citedexamples:Obama's proposals to create a new financial consumer protection agency, and Democrats' "cap-and-tax" energy plans. Mr. Donohue correctly responded that those plans will "weigh down America's once vibrant capital markets with excessive regulations," and "raise taxes on our most productive citizens."

A few short years ago, it would have been unthinkable that the Chamber of Commerce would need to spend $25 million defending the idea that jobs are best created in the private sector --let alone defending "free enterprise"as a cornerstone of our greatness. Yet here we are,ten months into Democrat Party rule,fighting to keep America --and the American dream --alive.Folks, these are dark days.Verydark days.