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75% of US counties are dying. And it’s the Republicans’ fault!

No, seriously, the AP assigns blame for a major, decades-in-the-making demographic shift on the Boehner Congress. At least they got as far as the third paragraph.

Nestled within America’s once-thriving coal country, 87-year-old Ed Shepard laments a prosperous era gone by, when shoppers lined the streets and government lent a helping hand. Now, here as in one-fourth of all U.S. counties, West Virginia’s graying residents are slowly dying off.

Hit by an aging population and a poor economy, a near-record number of U.S. counties are experiencing more deaths than births in their communities, a phenomenon demographers call “natural decrease.”

Years in the making, the problem is spreading amid a prolonged job slump and a push by Republicans in Congress to downsize government and federal spending.

Hm. The census upon which this story is based was taken in 2010. The GOP didn’t take over the House until 2011 (and the Democrats still own the Senate and White House, the other two branches of government according to Chuckles Schumer). It’s not the unions’ fault for pricing much work out of the market, or even the global elites’ fault for shipping jobs overseas — it’s the Republicans’ fault.

Deeper down, the AP’s intrepid reporters acknowledge that the problems these counties face go back at least to the days of JFK. But they seem to be counting on most readers not getting that far — the GOP blame game gets higher billing without any supporting evidence.

Not since Jamil Hussein played press secretary for the Iraqi insurgency, has the AP published such a fair and factual report.

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Posted at 2:39 pm on February 22nd, 2011 by

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4 Comments, 4 Threads, 1 Trackbacks

  1. 1. snork

    Hit by an aging population and a poor economy,

    Ahem. And something about a pledge to kill off the coal industry?

    February 22, 2011 - 2:48 pm   Link to this Comment
  2. 2. Marica

    Didn’t I just read some place else that the “census” upon which this was based was in fact the 2009 census estimates (or whatever they’re called)?

    February 22, 2011 - 2:54 pm   Link to this Comment
  3. 3. jvon

    How are the Republicans to blame for decreasing government spending WHEN IT HASN’T STARTED TO DECREASE YET? (I’d be impressed if it even levels off, but let’s not go there.)

    Are people dying off in anticipation of Republicans decreasing government spending?

    February 22, 2011 - 3:38 pm   Link to this Comment
  4. 4. Spinoneone

    The headline should have read, “100% of Americans are dying and its the Republicans fault.” That would have been accurate as to the part before “and” and just about as informative.

    February 22, 2011 - 9:04 pm   Link to this Comment

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