Its Bush's fault; Its Obama's fault --- the two arguments are not mutually exclusive.

Headline: Amerian Voters Still Blame Bush for Economic Crisis.

We like Rasmussen, as you may know, but this headline simply does not reflect Scott Rasmussen's own questioning. The headline above comes from the following Rasmussen polling question:

1* Some people say the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession which began under the Bush Administration. Others say the problems are being caused more by the policies President Obama has put in place since taking office. Which point of view comes closest to your own?

We have highlighted key wording within the polling question. Of course, the larger question offers a choice, but the choice is not one of mirrored opposites. "Problems . . . which began under . . . Bush" is not the same as the same as "policies . . . Obama has put in place since taking office." Understand that in the later part of the question, one can agree or disagree as to whether Obama policy is to blame; one cannot disagree, however, with the fact that the recession began under the Bush Administration.

In reality, this question seems to embrace the fantasy that the two choices are mutually exclusive. They are not. There is absolutely nothing internally contradictory in making this statement: "While the problems and policies under the Bush administration contributed to the present recession, continuing problems are influenced in no small way by the Obama agenda."

In the final analysis, Bush approved nearly all spending bills that came to his desk out of the 110th Congress (the Democrat controlled congress for his last two years as president). And when the garbage hit the fan in 2008, Bush installed Henry Paulson as the sole administrator of TARP. That was more of a "mistake" than anyone can imagine. Suffice it to remind our readers that 24 trillion [yes, with a "t"] dollars has been shuffled through the TARP legislation without audit or accountability. We are all aware of the Obama extremes. In the three fiscal years under Obama, including the one currently in progress, Obama will have added nearly 5 trillion in accumulated annual debt. This does not include the cost of the billion dollar Stimulus and the 2009 Omnibus Bill, which was another half billion dollars. Those dollars are added to Bush debt because they occurred during his final fiscal year. Obama spent the money while Bush got the blame. Sweeeet. At any rate, both presidents share the blame.

That is the more accurate summary of current events. Will we ever see polling results on such a question?

Maybe, maybe not.