In March 2001, the U.S. economy went into recession for the first time in ten years
Claims that the "media" has "backdated" the recession.
Even before President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, his surrogates began to suggest that the Bush administration was inheriting an economic recession from the Clinton administration. Over the last three and a half years, the media has been awash in false references to Bush "inheriting a recession" from Clinton. A recent Media Matters for America poll found that 62 percent of Americans hold the false belief that the recession began under Clinton.At least according to the NBER.