The Bush Deficit Bamboozle – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com.
OK, even by contemporary standards, this is rich: the official Republican stance is now apparently that Bush left behind a budget that was in pretty good shape. Mitch McConnell:
The last year of the Bush administration, the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 3.2 percent, well within the range of what most economists think is manageable. A year and a half later, it’s almost 10 percent.
They really do think that we’re idiots…
…I’d like to think that the raw dishonesty of this latest Bush defense would be obvious to everyone. But after the past decade, I’ve stopped believing such things. They think we’re idiots — and they may be right.
If it’s not so obvious, check the chart in the NY Times link. It’s an old trick, they use fiscal years (which end Sept 30) instead of calendar years. McConnell conveniently leaves out the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, both of which are before Obama’s stimulus package went into effect. It also cuts out the TARP bank bailout that Bush signed into law in the last quarter of 2008. By the end of first quarter of fiscal year 2009 deficits were already at 9% of GDP, before Obama’s stimulus went into effect!
I think this gets to heart of what irritates me so much about the modern republican party. They really do think the American public is as dumb as truck load of bricks. I believe most people simply aren’t interested enough to follow the ongoing national political conversation. Perhaps their too busy trying to make ends meet, working and raising families. Maybe they think the whole thing is a corrupt game where the scum rises to the top. All three (and more) are probably true to some degree. The press is horribly complicit in amplifying false narratives to curry favor and all important access to policy makers. They’re so caught up in hawking stories that drive ratings and advertising revenue, they often miss the truth. The recent Shirley Sherrod affair is a good example of what I mean. It was exceptional in one way: they got caught in a blatant effort to smear her. Usually no one notices.
