In defense of David Frum

I seldom agree with Frum when it comes to policy prescriptions. But he’s rather better on diagnosing problems, and it seems remarkable for Republicans to get angry with him for pointing out the obvious:

Do my correspondents (and now my Corner colleagues) truly believe that – but for my pitiful media and social ambitions – nobody in America would have noticed that Sarah Palin cannot speak three coherent consecutive words about finance or economics?

Of course, he left out the fact that McCain, Obama, and Biden can’t either. It’s not as if Palin is alone in her economic incompetence. Speaking of which, don’t be fooled by the Dow’s upward explosion. This is nothing more than the inevitable reaction of which I warned Mr. Lowry last week, it’s not the end of the bear or evidence that the bailout is working.

Bull markets grind slowly upward. Contrary to how it might appear, massive up days, even two or three consecutive up days, are quite common in bear markets.