Talking Down the Economy

Of course the Democrats want to maximize electoral gains next year -- and it therefore makes sense that they would want to make conditions sound as terrible as possible in hopes that voters will blame Republicans, from President Bush on down.

But Chuck Schumer has transversed the bounds of decency by having publicly released a letter questioning the viability of IndyMac. The feds are saying that his letter helped cause the run on the bank that resulted in it having to be taken over by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Any responsible public leader would have resisted the urge to incite panic among IndyMac depositors, and any legitimate concerns could have been addressed without making the letter public. But Schumer, apparently, couldn't resist -- and the result is IndyMac's failure, and more headlines likely to frighten Americans.

Good job, Senator Schumer.