“I knew a lot of Leftists who hated Bush. Hated him. Hated him. Hated him. Why? Well, he was a spendthrift!! He had deficits! His deficits were huge! They were like — they were like $100 Billion!!!!”
The cumulative national debt doubled under George Bush from $5.8 trillion to $11.9 trillion. The only year he came close to $100 billion was his first year, 2001 at $133 billion. Technically 2001 was the last Clinton budget year since it was approved under Clinton and began in October 2000, three 1/2 months before Bush was inaugurated.
Bush deficits by year in billions were:
$421 in 2002
$570 in 2003
$596 in 2004
$539 in 2005
$575 in 2006
$500 in 2007
$1,018 in 2008
$1,887 in 2009 (budget year began October 2008, while Bush was President)
I thought the $100 billion deficit claim for 2006 sounded way low.
There are no universally accepted historical standards for comparing presidential deficits, but I'll guess that Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush are right up there with Franklin Roosevelt before WW2 started.
And I'll guess that Lyndon Johnson ranks number one in terms of non-military spending increases.