Posted on 12/22/2009 7:29:27 PM PST by rabscuttle385
This week the Senate grinches stole Christmas. The Obama Nation is getting Obamacare.
It’s easy to blame the sixty Democrats, as the Wall Street Journal does, for "the worse bill ever." It solemnly declares: "These 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command--and control regulation."
True enough. But what's the root cause of this permanent disaster?
Sorry, friends, but it’s not the Democrats, nor the American people who elected them.
The real culprits are two Republicans who ran the show the previous eight years: George W. Bush and his "master political strategist" Karl Rove. If it weren’t for these two in the White House, the Democrats wouldn’t have sixty senators, including a professional comedian from Minnesota, to close off debate and ram down our throats a bill worse than Hillary Care.
The fact is that the Bush & Rove act pushed through a litany of ruinous government policies that led to the lowest approval numbers in history:
the undeclared and costly War in Iraq and its stepchild the unconstitutional Patriot Act.
the monstrous No Child Left Behind Act that dramatically increased federal intervention in private education.
the Prescription Drug Act that gave the American people another benefit-corrupted entitlement and unfunded liability.
large and growing deficits and national debt.
the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, largely due to their failure to reform government-sponsored agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
large and growing deficits and national debt (according to the Cato Institute's latest report, George W. Bush was the biggest spender since LBJ!).
The supply-side tax cuts were probably the only major piece of economic legislation that Bush/Rove deserve credit for, but even then, they blundered in not making the tax cuts permanent. So now even if the Republicans take back Capitol Hill in the 2010 elections, all President Obama has to do is veto an extension of the Bush tax cuts, and voila, taxes will increase automatically.
In short, we are paying a heavy price for the "compassionate conservativism" of Bush/Rove.
Once Obamacare becomes law, like Medicare and other "Great Society" programs, it will never end. We will be stuck with national health care for the rest of our lives.
And how are Bush and Rove rewarded? We aren’t seeing much of George Bush, who is quietly ensconced in his new digs in Texas.
The tragedy is Karl Rove, who ironically has been rewarded by conservatives. He’s treated like a triumphant general on Fox News almost every night and was signed on as a regular columnist in the prestigious Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Skousen is a renowned financial economist, author and university professor. He has been the editor of the financial advice newsletter, Forecasts & Strategies, for 28 years. Two of his books highlight Milton Friedman's career: "The Making of Modern Economics" and "Vienna and Chicago, Friends or Foes?." Check out his latest book "The Big Three in Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, And John Maynard Keynes" or "Investing in One Lesson" and "EconoPower: How a New Generation of Economists is Transforming the World." He is the producer of FreedomFest, the world's largest gathering of free minds, in Las Vegas every July (www.freedomfest.com).
Oh really?
Care to give an example?
“The real culprits are ... “ Gee, the 60 million who voted for Obama, the 60 Senators who voted for it, the liberals who wrote the bill, Pelosi and Reid and Obama who gangpressed congress to pass it, and the lamestream media who promoted the idea for years had nothing to do with it?
You might as well blame the American people for falling for this.
“If GWB hadn’t been elected in 2000, then we’d have had eight years of President Al Gore. I wonder how this maniac Skousen would have reacted to THAT?”
He probably would have somehow blame ex-President Reagan for that fact, and dredge up something Reagan did that ticked him off.
This BDS syndrome is of the “Martinet” type. Dont be perfect and your flaws are the source of all bad things subsequent. It’s highly illogical and distorts reality, but hard to reason with. Best to leave people with their BDS grudges.
“Is this the Dem strategy for November 2010 that we were reading about.... the one where, despite controlling all branches of the Federal Government and don’t have any achievments that they can refer to, they campaign for re-election by comparing themselves to Bush and his henchmen?”
YES IT IS.
Whining about a guy who is now retired.
I was just checking to see what your comment actually meant, pro vs con.
No child left behind(consolidated federal control over public schools)
Medicare D (socialism)
“I can’t find my veto pen”
Amnesty with chain migration”
Bottom line = FAIL
You got it FRiend!
The sooner that REAL conservatives recognize that we were conned, fooled and bamboozled by the faux-conservative RINO that inhabited the White House from January 2001 to 2009, the better off we will be. Living in a delusionary fantasy that GWB was the second coming of Reagan does NObody any good.
Did Bush do some good things? Sure, no question. But did those good things he did outweigh the damage that was done to our Constitution, to our Republic, by the fiscal obligations our children and grandchildren will inherit?
Not a chance.
Yes, the Iraq war did start out under those terms, but I wasn’t kidding myself when we went in. Hussein had been popping off his mouth about hating the U.S. and wanting to do anything he could to take it down.
He didn’t honor the no-fly zones. He was forever trying to target our aircraft. He moved his armed forces up to the no-go zones and if I remember correctly even entered them several times.
He was paying the families of suicide bombers in Israel $25k.
He had attacked four different neighbor nations, occupying one and was responsible for over a million deaths.
The U.N. chief inspector thought he had WMDs. The European leaders thought he had WMDs. Our Democrats in Congress thought he had WMDs.
After 09/11, Bush got a consensus to go in. We took out the military opposition and the government. Hussein had nobody to blame, but himself.
Once the strong leadership which had been abusing the Iraqi people at will was gone, then what? Should we have just left the place in total anarchy? Should we have allowed Hussein to return to power?
I think the region is much better off. I think we’re better off.
Once you commit to an operation like this, you can’t just cut and run because your original premise, shared by most people, was not correct. You have to leave something behind that is reasonably believed not to be a threat to the world.
I think we’re accomplishing that. I will remain supportive.
“Did Bush do some good things? Sure, no question. But did those good things he did outweigh the damage that was done to our Constitution, to our Republic, by the fiscal obligations our children and grandchildren will inherit?
Not a chance.”
We can leave it there.
“The sooner that REAL conservatives recognize that we were conned, fooled and bamboozled by the faux-conservative RINO that inhabited the White House from January 2001 to 2009, the better off we will be. Living in a delusionary fantasy that GWB was the second coming of Reagan does NObody any good.”
I think that POS Rove had a lot to do with Bush’s policies. But it takes 2 to tango, and Bush let Rove into his confidence.
“Regrettably, I believe Bush likened (and terribly misread) working with Democrats from the Texas legislature to working with establishment, DC Democrats when he rose to the White House.”
This is true. In Texas, some Dems were reasonable (not any more). The national Democrats are 100% lockstep partisan left-liberals, and it was foolish for Bush not to realize it, as his own father got burned by that as well. Bipartisan = liberal policies that Republicans sign up for.
WMDs are not Bush’s “I didn’t have sex with that woman.”
Bush isn’t the only person who thought they had them. Our idiot stick Democrats in Congress and the Senate also thought they had them. The European leaders thought they had them. The U.N. Chief inspector made comments that he thought they probably had them.
I’m not a big fan of Bush, but good grief, you folks should remember this.
Please read my comments here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2413509/posts?page=129#129
“W was the greatest disaster in the the history of the Republican party”
hogwash & hyperbole. We did well in 2004, poorly in 2006 and 2008 and well in 2009. We may yet rebound in 2010.
We may yet find that O is the greatest disaster in the the history of the Republic. If not, it will be because we got our selves together to fight it rather than blame a guy who’s now retired in Texas.
And btw, there is not a war in history that is fought ‘right’. War is hell.
“GWB was a fine President but he had warts, just like any other former President. Obama is just a wart, period.”
Well said!
I find one way to clarify how bad GWB was is to rank the Presidents in our lifetime. I can’t help but put GWB in the top 3, because the rest in my lifetime (since LBJ) are simply worse.
My ranking is
1. Reagan
2. GWB
3. GHWB
4. Ford
5. Clinton
6. Nixon
7. LBJ
8. Carter
9. Obama ?
What’s yours? And if GWB is so bad, where does that put LBJ/Carter etc.
In one way, Bush and Rove are certainly to blame. Anyone remember this?
“Arlen is with us when we need him”
Those words were spoken by President Bush, with support from PA Senator Rick Santorum, during the 2004 PA GOP Senate Primary against conservative Pat Toomey. The support of Bush/Rove/Santorum was instrumental in dragging the senior senator from PA’s carcass across the finish line with a 51-49 victory.
For those of you with short memories, that is Arlen Specter (D) - who in the past year was the 60th and decisive vote for BOTH Porkulus and Obamacare.
Bush IS ultimately responsible - just not in the way the author argues. If the GOP had stayed the hell out of PA in 2004, Senator Toomey would have cast the death blow vote against both Obaminations. Instead, it has been all downhill ever since (we had 55 GOP senators in 2004).
The GOP koolaid drinkers all seem to conveniently forget this.
Bush/Rove/Santorum - never, ever forget...
How would you rank the last 9 Presidents then?
Everything GWB was done in spades by almost all prior presidents in our lifetimes.
It's too much like shooting weeds in a vase...you've offered no support for the FACTS of the article yourself, you've merely come to your hero's defense. Nonetheless, here's your refutation (I'm tiring of doing this rudimentary stuff in my sleep).
The fact is that the Bush & Rove act pushed through a litany of ruinous government policies that led to the lowest approval numbers in history:
Fact #1: Bush's lowest approval rating was higher than Nixon's lowest and Truman's lowest. His average approval rating was higher than Truman's, Nixon's, Ford's and Carter's.
*
the undeclared and costly War in Iraq and its stepchild the unconstitutional Patriot Act.
Fact #2: The Federal courts that have ruled on The Patriot Act have found it to be Constitutional.
Stating that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional does not make The Patriot Act unconstitutional.
*
the monstrous No Child Left Behind Act that dramatically increased federal intervention in private education.
Fact #3: Private schools, including private schools with Title I students, are not required to participate in a state's annual academic assessments under No Child Left Behind.
*
large and growing deficits and national debt.
Is this guy serious?
*
the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, largely due to their failure to reform government-sponsored agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
The writer is attempting to steer blame for the failure to reform Fannie and Freddie on Bush and Rove.
Fact #4: The fault for lack of reform lies with Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank and Andrew Cuomo, who ignored the Bush Administration's warnings repeatedly, and who now sit in Congress and the Senate blaming Bush and the banks for their own failures. (They're also nationalizing health care.)
*
The supply-side tax cuts were probably the only major piece of economic legislation that Bush/Rove deserve credit for, but even then, they blundered in not making the tax cuts permanent.
Fact #5: Bush couldn't make the tax cuts permanent...no president can enact legislation...that duty finally fell to the '07-'08 Congress, controlled by Pelosi and the Democrats.
*
So now even if the Republicans take back Capitol Hill in the 2010 elections, all President Obama has to do is veto an extension of the Bush tax cuts, and voila, taxes will increase automatically.
Exactly...and if Obama ever vetoes an extension of the Bush tax cuts, it will be Obama's fault...not Bush's.
It's not Bush Derangement Syndrome if it's TRUE, ok?
But it isn't true. What now?
That pretty well expresses my contempt for Bush. I supported some of the things he did, but he really did turn out to be our Jimmy Carter. No he wasn’t the complete dupe Carter was, but he sure wasn’t tuned into the Conservative movement either.
For eight long years he short circuited Conservatism, people even on this board not being able to take him to task because he was “our guy”. I didn’t even bother voting for him the first time around. The second time I did, but it wasn’t a vote of confidence, to be sure. It was a toss away vote.
I do believe he set the stage for Obama to enter the White House. I do believe he made it possible for someone like McCain to become our nominee.
The Bush administration was a failed opportunity. It may turn out to be one of the few moments in my lifetime, when we could have made headway. Sadly, we didn’t.
1. Blaming Bush for ObamaScare is a lot like excusing Obama’s spending by calling Bush a big spender. Bush’s spending was like a kid playing with matches but Obama burned the house down.
2. I also find it odd that anyone would blame Bush/Rove for anything without also casting big stones at Hasstert/Frist. Bush could not have enacted much without their blindly loyal support.
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