[Kaslin]

You are mistaken it did not start with President Bush 41. He did not renege on his promise not to raise taxes, but war forced by the rats to do so, and that is a fact whether you like it or not. Maybe you didn’t pay attention but I did

[malia]

Thank you!

[GBA]

I was paying attention, but I don't wear Bush bias glasses and am not a member of the rino party. As such, I'm rereading history with a more open mind, following the footprints and not liking what I see.

The state of the GOP, and in large part the state of the nation and its economy, flow from the Bush family. It all is as much their legacy as it is the demonrat party's.

Reagan was the idealist, non-establisment odd man out and they have made sure the era of Reagan ended in the GOP and elsewhere. Their hostility toward the TEA party republicans adds more supporting evidence. I believe it is more than just appearances that Clinton is a welcomed part of their family. Just ask Babs.

[Lakeshark]

Fwiw, Bush Sr was not really "forced" as much as he was fooled by the democrats. I think he had no stomach to fight the cretins any longer, was held out a promise of spending cuts, and much like Reagan did, accepted phantom cuts for the increase in taxes.

It WAS a capitulation and they hung him with it from the moment he agreed to their terms. It was a huge mistake on his part.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Yeah, I always detested the media spin on this. The Dem-controlled House & Senate had long pushed for tax increases that GHWB deep-sixed by promising to veto. Then when he eventually was fooled into agreeing to NOT veto a Dem tax hike, the MSM trumpeted it as "Bush's Tax Hike," "The Republican Tax Hike," etc. Nosirree. SeeNoDem, HearNoDem, SpeakNoDem! We journalists tried awfully hard but failed to find a single Democrat involved in this tax increase in any way, shape or form. Definitely a 100% GOP tax hike.

Tax revenues had lately been declining, the "Reduce The Deficit!" chorus was screaming, GHWB had a fairly high popularity ranking, and he figured that if he could get a mutual deal with the Dems involving BOTH spending cuts and tax increases, it was doable.

His fatal mistake was in putting trust in the integrity of Democrat political leaders, by making a deal with Tom Foley & George Mitchell, sealed by nothing more than a Gentleman's Handshake in the Oval Office.

The Tax-Hike half of the deal required he sign the Dems' latest tax hike bill. The Spending-Reduction half of the deal relied on Foley's and Mitchell's integrity. After GHWB signed their bill, they "fulfilled" their part of the deal by having both houses of Congress convene a trumped-up, much-heralded, joint mega- "summit" that was to be dedicated to finding/targeting many areas across-the-board where funding would be seriously cut or completely ended.

And as we know, the mega-summit looked very very hard with the most powerful microscopes available; they tried their gosh-darndest; they strove; they strove mightily; they huffed and they puffed.... but failed to find a single item anywhere in the entire budget that could safely be cut, even the teensiest bit. Who woulda thunk?

With that pretense of promise-fulfilling quickly disposed of, the Dem leadership and the MSM focused on "Bush Lied! He broke his promise! See? See? Watch this 'Read My Lips' snippet for the millionth time and get angry at him once again for secretly plotting to raise your taxes with his insidious GOP Tax Hike!"

Closer to the election they really REALLY ramped up this line of attack, while simultaneously portraying Boy Clinton as the true Tax Cutter candidate, the "New Democrat," who promised on his sacred honor to pass a huge Middle Class Tax Cut at the very first opportunity, bygosh. So for voters in the middle who were conservative on taxes and liberal on social & green issues, why not vote for the candidate who looked to be a Win-Win choice?