Having it both ways

When the economic numbers come out favorable, the political talking heads trumpet how their policies are "working". When the numbers come out bad, it must be some error, some "anomaly".

From a Reuters story on January 28, 2006:

Slower-than-expected U.S. growth data at the end of 2005 do not accurately reflect the continued strength of the world's biggest economy, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Saturday.

"We think those figures are anomalous and out of step with the other figures showing the strength of the economy both now and in the future," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.