For Clinton to blame President Bush for a recession the latter inherited from the former is nothing but a cheap shot. Even brief recessions come and go; it's part of the capitalist nature of things. And for Clinton to blame Bush for cutting taxes on rich people is just plain silly.

It was Clinton who signed a huge capital-gains tax cut for stocks and residential real estate in 1997. It was a terrific pro-growth policy that added torque to the American prosperity. His cap-gains tax cut dropped the marginal rate to 20 percent from 28 percent. Home-sale profits up to $500,000 were made tax-free. Supply-siders like myself -- as well as Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and others -- praised Clinton for this back then and do so now.

It could easily be argued that Clinton cut taxes for the rich -- but that's a cheap shot these days. Investment taxes like capital gains, or dividends, used to be regarded as a rich person's worry. But in the past 20 years, stock ownership has skyrocketed to roughly 50 percent of the adult population and homeownership has exploded to nearly 70 percent. The province

of rich people has been overthrown by ordinary middle-class folks who are sharing more in our national wealth and prosperity than at any time in American history.

Since 1996, the year before Clinton's cap-gains tax cut, total home sales in the U.S. have increased 66 percent. The median sales price for homeowners has increased 64 percent. Even with the market collapse of 2000-'02 (a trend Bush inherited), the S&P 500 stock index threw off a total return of 72 percent (price appreciation plus dividends).

Following in Bill Clinton's footsteps, Bush lowered investment tax rates (on capital gains and investor stock dividends) in order to strengthen incentive rewards to rebuild equity asset values. It worked. The economy is on fire in 2004 with consumer confidence hitting a formidable 106.1 in July. In the history of the consumer-confidence index, any number over 100 is very good news for an incumbent president.

Clinton was undoubtedly playing to the left-liberal crowd in Boston with his cheap-shot attacks on Bush. But he was blowing smoke at the rest of America, which knows better. The electorate will not take it seriously.