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).
I disagree with this one.
Otherwise, I think he's pretty much on the money.
The war(s) in the Middle East are absolutely necessary. The cost is miniscule when compared to the cost of NOT fighting.
This part is certainly true. Cutting and running would be a disaster and even Obama has run into that fact of life now that he is president. But what Bush supporters have asserted is that once a Republican president uses a hugely flawed premise to gain public support (by literally terrifying the voters) for an huge long costly invasion reconstruction we cannot judge him later(they have no such rule for democrats naturally). Few Americans were willing to buy that "Heads I win tails you lose" assertion.
WMDs became commonly known as Bush's "I did not have sex with that woman". It's a fact. America is now isolationist.
A smaller, cheaper, more competent and less intrusive government and a safer, freer and more prosperous nation.
Good day, Mr. Skousen.
I’m highly critical of Bush. He deserves it.
Yes, the left probably does think his WMD statements were his “I did not have sex with that woman” moment, but I’m not buying into that.
Bush wasn’t the only world leader or U.S. politician who thought there were WMDs in Iran. He wasn’t hiding something from the public. He didn’t do anything wrong.
Clinton lied pure and simple. Bush didn’t, pure and simple.
Clinton lied to cover up his act. Bush told the truth because he viewed Hussein to be a threat.
I’m just not buying the idea that Bush is comparable to Clinton on these two matters. I don’t believe you think that either.
This is the Bush-bot dance. Chunga cannot refute any of Rab's factual points, but assassinates his character by accusing him of being a democrat. He has been doing this for weeks now. But the Bush-bot dance is a very lonely one because Bush is considered one of the worst presidents in US history by most Americans. So in Chun’s Bush-bot world the whole country is leftist.
You don't see any Republicans running for office saying they are “In the Spirit of Bush” because he is poison. So Chun must believe they are leftists too. Ask Palin what she thinks of Bush presidency, I dare you Chun.
I don’t think I said goron would have been better than jorge. The fact is that he presided as a fiscal liberal and his idiotic claim to be a “compassionate conservative” led us to a demoralized base that did not turn out for the election. (Disclaimer) I was not one of them that stayed home though I was tempted to. The squishy middle he pandered to went overwhelmingly to the democratic socialist. So I still contend that without Bush we would not have had a marxist president and 60 fellow travelers in the senate.
Most Americans believe this, not just the left. If it was just "the left" then 2006 would not have been a disaster for republicans(2008 brought additional problems) . The economy hadnt crashed yet. Democrats were polled for the last few years as more trustworthy than Republicans on National Security. This was not just "The Left". This “The Left” Bush defense leads to election slaughter.
I was responding to the following:
I, for one, can not continue to support an armed conflict whose purpose keeps changing after the fact or whose purpose is vague and ill-defined.
That said, I do believe that the conflict in Afghanistan was unquestionably legitimate but terribly mismanaged.
Please list the "facts" in the above post by rabscuttle. Thanks in advance.
Now, please refute my own personal experience: i.e., that every Democrat I know for the past six years has held to the exact same line rabs has taken in the above post: Iraq is an illegitimate war because no WMDs were found there, that the purpose of the war keeps changing and is therefore invalid, and that the war is unworthy of support because its purpose is vague and ill-defined; and that the Afghan War is wholly justifiable but "terribly mismanaged."
This is the line taken by John Kerry; Al Gore; Nancy Pelosi; Howard Dean; John Edwards; Ted Kennedy; Russ Feingold; Michael Moore; Bill Maher; the Mainstream Media; Keith Olbermann; Steny Hoyer; Barney Frank.
It's The Democrat Party Line.
rabs and the rest of you rabs-bots are like Jake Spoon.
Ride with horse thieves, hang with horse thieves.
There are no facts to refute in the segment of the post to which I responded. For a refutation of this stupid article, see #138.
Q — Why did your campaign lose? A — I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration, how have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration.
at Bush administration to blame...Sarah speaks
Now compare with this reply here :He sounds like B. Hussein Obama during the election contest. No wonder he blames former Pres. Bush; "the Messiah" does, also(Stepan12 to Chunga at #118)
More quotes like this and I will get behind Palin.
I don’t believe the outcomes in 2006 and 2008 were based solely on the Iraq war. And I’m sorry, but anyone who trusted the left on military matters more than the right was an absolute clueless fool.
Bush did not lie. Clinton did. End of story.
The leftist media and leftist driven polls don’t affect my personal beliefs.
We had a populace that ignored every single warning sign about Obama. They knew next to nothing about him, but what they did have access to, was chilling.
Two and a half years ago, the leftists and the press had declared defeat in Iraq. Look at it today. This is what causes the public to trust the left more than the right with regard to military matters?
LOL
I been meaning to dig up that Palin reference.
People who are not BushBots, were/are able to see his negatives for what they were. BushBots didn’t have clue one that Bush could make a mistake. He was perfect in their eyes, and I was persona non grata often enough to know this comment is totally accurate.
Don’t give yourself over to blind loyalty, and try to tell me it’s solid positive support. Disagree with me once in a while, and I’ll respect you a lot more.
Bush screwed us. The other day someone posted that Bush was the best president of the modern era, even better than Reagan. LOL, sorry, not only no sale, I think Bush empowered the left immeasurably.
Look at what is taking place right now. Our nation is being dismantled. Thanks George.
I couldn’t agree more with regard to that form of policy.
Loft decent people or get the H out of my face.
I’m sick of this RINO hell we find ourselves in today. The Republican party wants us to return to supporting RINOs. How the hell does that turn our nation back toward founding principles.
Strategies:
Republicans: Status Quo
Democrats: Go for the throat communism
Tell me which is going to win out long term.
If this were a military campaign, we’d be carrying bee bee guns and they’d have nukes.
I respect opinions completely different than mine as long as they are thought out, and serious. I know Dem's in MD that are respectful, honest and really wanted Obama to fix the country(like I believed Bush in 2002.) I also know more ‘brain-dead Dems’ who get ALL their info from Democrats and know very little about what democrats are doing and are supporting him blindly.
What is interesting is how democrats complaints about right wing media sound like talk radio's complaints about left wing media.
My conclusion 1) You always need alternative media to those in power, 2) Gridlock is our best hope.
I appreciate your comments, and I agree where it is proper to agree or disagree.
What bothers me about the leftist complaints about talk radio, is that talk radio is a show. It a feeds a public desire. The left can’t find an audience, spewing what they do, so they have nothing to blame more than that for not having an audience.
The press on the other hand, is supposed to be neutral. They are supposed to provide all the facts, then let the populace make well informed choices. That isn’t happening.
Rush is supposed to be biased. It’s legitimate.
The press is supposed to be neutral, and it isn’t. That’s illegitimate.
The left has nothing, absolutely nothing to complain about.
My ranking is
1. Reagan
2. GWB
3. GHWB
4. Ford
5. Clinton
6. Nixon
7. LBJ
8. Carter
9. Obama ?
Reagan
Ford
GHWB
Nixon
GWB
LBJ
Clinton
Carter
Obama
The press on the other hand, is supposed to be neutral. They are supposed to provide all the facts, then let the populace make well informed choices. That isn’t happening.
Read/watch it and weep........
http://mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2009/publicballot/results.aspx?page=1
My point was that you have those on each side that wall themselves off to a view that they want to believe, and attack the other source. Next thing you know is arguments cannot be made because “The other side us using them”. For us here it’s fine when democrats are in charge, but dangerous when they are not. Hannity told listeners Republicans would win 2006+2008 and many believed him, in shock the next day.
I was emailing links to ‘War on FNC’ articles to democrats at work and one (about 25 yrs) emailed be back that they were all ‘right wing’ sources. I told him to look closer, had CNN and others. But that was his immediate response, shut it off, bad source.
Yep, the DNC press core was doing a great job that day.
But yesterday on MSNBCs Hardball , while mad that Republicans are opposing Democrats (LOL, not kidding), Chris Mathews gave the Democrat a few zingers with “ Bush didn't give Obama this health care bill” and “ Is the snow we got Bush's fault too? ” I was at the gym on a machine laughing while running. Mathews loves Obama but knows what is happening.
Like I posted last year, all this media worship would backfire by creating impossible expectations for O. His promises too.
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