DOOR OPEN TO CAP-GAINS TAX CUT.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)

To hear leading Democrats, President Bush is endangering the economy because the surplus is shrinking. Besides being exactly backward, this notion could help block needed steps to boost the slumping economy.

To say that a shrinking surplus threatens the economy is like saying wet sidewalks cause rain.

It's not surprising, though, to hear this backward thinking -- the government equals the economy -- from Democrats. After all, theirs is the party that believes in a bigger, activist government, from whom all economic blessings flow.

To be fair, some in the party have shown a glimmer of understanding of economic issues. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for one, made this startling concession during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

"You might even consider a capital gains tax reduction at this point in time to help spur the kind of capital investment that is not taking place as a consequence of the lowering of the interest rates," he told the show's host, Tim Russert. That's in stark opposition to his party's class warfare rhetoric.

Still, Kerry had to take the first 10 minutes of his interview to rail against President Bush's tax cut for shrinking the surplus. He said the president's budget numbers were "divorced from reality."

To Russert, an ex-staffer of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, that was music. So he pressed Kerry throughout the segment on whether the senator would favor rolling back the income tax cut.