Hey, I was there, all right? I know what the industry was doing in the summer of 2000.

Check out statistics for unemployment rate, the interest rate changes, and particularly, GDP growth. Even in the article you cite, the NBER is considering changing the date themselves.

And even if the recession began in March of 2001, two months after Bush took office, and before he enacted a single tax cut (the first one passed in June of 2001), or other major economic policy, you'd have a hard time blaming it on him.

BTW, any time someone in the media labels an organization "non-partisan," about three red flags go up in my mind.