David Gold is surprised that freepers are supporting FDR/LBJ-scale Katrina spending

David Gold Show ^ | Sep 18 05 | David Gold

[churchillbuff]

Yesterday on his radio show, conservative talk host David Gold said the proposed massive federal spending for Katrina "relief" is a TIME OF TESTING FOR CONSERVATIVES. Do they really believe in small and efficient government - - or will they accept socialist-scale big spending as long as it's proposed by a Republican president?

Gold said he was surprised and disheartened to find many posters on FreeRepublic.com making excuses for the huge proposed spending. Bet they'd be sounding a different tune if Clinton were president and he had proposed it!

[Dane]

Oh, yeah, that makes it easier to stomach.

Huh just like Reagan's tax increases in 82.

[cynicom]

FR is a republican site, not a conservative site, Gold surely must know that?

[Rodney King]

With regard to Katrina, what is your solution?

For starters, they can cut the $24 billion of pork out of the transportation bill to fund the spending on Katrina. However, Delay says there is no wasteful spending to be cut.

[jimfrommaine]

Great society programs have cost this nation trillions of dollars. African-Americans were promised a better life, yet generations have become tied to welfare for their survival. And families have been destroyed. Single parent homes seem to be the norm not the exception.
How can anyone with compassion, want to rebuild New Olen's and the gulf region with the same ignorance that ultimately caused the disaster? Free Enterprize zones, minority home ownership, school vouchers, reliance on faith based institutions, will wipe out poverty in the gulf, and folks throughout the nation will demand it. The federal bureaucracy can be dismantled. By doing the right thing, hope and opportunity will be create for folks, and we'll save trillions of dollars over the next generation.

[Paradox]

Ah...."infrastructure." I remember that was one of Bill Clinton's favorite words and excuses for robbing taxpayers

Doesn't matter who said what, the fact is, the analysis that gave 400k to each person did not take that into account, so it was a BS analysis.

[Rodney King]

I'd rather spend money to rebuild NO than all that other crap he does, so that he can be seen as a "compassionate" conservative.

Yeah, I agree.

[cripplecreek]

"Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America. And we always have fun doing it. Hoo-yah!"


You might recognize this.

[MNJohnnie]

Do any of you "conservatives" have any idea how much this is costing in lost Fed tax revenues and cash outlays in direct aid to evacuees? So what is the SOLUTION????? HUH, I hear all this WHINING about how much it cost, I hear NOTHING being offered as what SHOULD be done. Have any of you even bothered to consider the destruction to Infrastructure we took decades building? So what SHOULD the GOP and Bush be doing? If you don't like the Bush plan, what SHOULD we be doing? You in particular Chamberlinbuff. Stop this constant whining of yours and offer some IDEAS. You all are starting to sound just like the Hysteric Left, WHINE 100% of the time, IDEAS ZERO % of the time. You all seem to forget we are a Representative Republic, NOT a Presidential Dictatorship. We cannot just impose YOUR emotional whimsy by Presidential Fiat. So ideas that actually CAN be done rather then this constant whining.

[churchillbuff]

How are we ever going to get rid of the alternative minimum tax, and other tax outrages -- like what remains of the marriage penalty, and the still-too-high cap gain taxes -- if we dont' cut spending? Already, Bush's plan to permanently gut the death tax has been sidelined because of all this Katrina spending orgy.

[stuartcr]

Thank you.

[twigs]

This president has had a major war in which he's taking on world-wide terrorism and the wiping out of an entire city (sordid city rotted from within by local and state corruption) by one of this country's worst natural disasters. Comparing this spending to that of any other administrations is an apples and oranges comparision.

[Tennessee_Bob]

I'd support a rebuilding - as long as it located New Orleans somewhere inland away from the ocean and above sea level.

[loreldan]

Well, this freeper doesn't have an opinion yet, because I don't know the facts about the spending so far. Did the 60 billion spent so far go to repair infrastructure like the levees, roads, etc? Or did some of it go to replace someone's mansion that didn't have flood insurance? I don't think anybody will complain too much about repairing infrastructure, but I will complain about paying for something that should have been taken care of by a responsible homeowner.

[I still care]

I think part of it is:

1)When it comes down to it, we somehow expect W, while spending, to do it with something of conservative ideals - mobilize the private sector for instance, instead of just being a grand government "I'll take care of you" giveaway like BIll and Hill would do.

2)Conservatives, while believing in personal responsibility, do often lump catastrophes in with national security as something the government may help with.

3)And last but not least, Rush's postulation - Anything that helps put the nail in the coffin of liberalism he is for. Making Republicans look good is a good thing.

don't flame me - they are just some observations I've made. I am of the personal opinion that any speech the NY Times thinks is good, I don't like.

[Lazamataz]

I'd support a rebuilding - as long as it located New Orleans somewhere inland away from the ocean and above sea level.

I'd add the criteria that they name it New Lazamataz and only 19-25 year old hottiechicks were allowed to live there. Except for me, of course.

[hopespringseternal]

If there is ever a time for big federal spending outside of war, it is probably large natural disasters.

Having said that, the spending would be a lot more palatable if the GOP showed any concern at all for spending at any time whatsoever.

It is ironic that George Bush is considered fiscally conservative, he is about as fiscally conservative as LBJ or FDR.

All the hatred of GWB from the left comes not from his supposed conservatism, but from his stealing their thunder. A lot of what he is doing is right out of their own playbook. He robbed them of a platform.

Conservatives should be livid at his spending, but we are really just glad that someone with some connection to reality is doing it rather than some Clintonian moonbat.

I think most of us are resigned to the realization that the future we have feared for so long is inevitable at this point.

[Captain Kirk]

So what is the SOLUTION????? HUH, I hear all this WHINING about how much it cost, I hear NOTHING being offered as what SHOULD be done

Gee whiz, how did ever manage to deal with diasaters before the new Conservative Big Brother stepped in to "protect us?"

More seriously, I have to shake my head in wonderment when I read your "challenge." Here's a suggestion: read some history about how Americans dealt with problems before they became dependents on the federal teat....before robbing more money for the taxpayers to allow people to live under sea level.

[Osage Orange]

Well clinton isn't proposing it, remember character counts.

I will assume your tongue is firmly lodged in your buccal cavity.....

Therefore, I will say...character does count. And at least Bush isn't just moving his lips.

This isn't spending 17 Bilzillion dollars on saving the pink farting frog of Leftwich, Nova New Deli. Nor is it sending 199 Gazillion dollars to Northern Barfia to hand out condoms to circus workers!

This is helping our fellow Americans, in a time of high need. Something that I personally am ALL for spending on.

Now, do I want accountability for the monies? Yes. Will I/we get it? Sadly..probably not.

Okie Dokie?

[johnny7]

Michael Weiner... z'at you?

[Seruzawa]

I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit.

It's the only way to be sure.