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.
Its 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 its 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 werent for these two in the White House, the Democrats wouldnt 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 arent 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. Hes 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).
See 40.
Thank you!
We all need to remember that.
“Get out of Cheney’s house!”
Still gives me goosebumps!
Without Jorge bush there would not have been a hussein obama. Other than the war I could not agree more with this article.
I see you and the Democrats are still campaigning against GW Bush. That and trying to rally people against Sarah Palin, whom you claim is nothing more than ‘McCain in a skirt’.
author is a jackass. This the Liberals fault. This is the “moderate” Democrats fault. This is a socialist agenda. It’s people like this author who stayed home at election time and allowed the Liberals to take over in the first place.
You supported his right to violate the cease fire agreement, which you claim is 'unconstitutional'. In fact, if you had it your way, Saddam would still be in power.
The financial calamity was born of machinations set forth by the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 which forced banks to write high risk loans under threat of crippling penalties; these were loans that would not have otherwise been written if the free market were to freely operate without detrimental regs and forced mandates. Most of the loans were long established before GWB had been elected.
To blame the current Constitutional crisis on President George W. Bush and Rove is beyond preposterous.
The Iraq invasion is the most popular thing here at FR that Bush did(talk radio too) that is at the same time most hated and a joke across America and voters. WMDs is Bush's “I didn't have sex with that woman”
Try this, If invading Iraq was so brilliant why isn't the Republican platform to invade and rebuild Iran based on their Nuke program???
They come around in even greater numbers during election time, trying to convince everyone to stay at home or vote 3’rd party, knowing full well that doing so enables Democrat victories.
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? I think a better, more positive strategy for their 2010 campaign ads would be to show each Dem candidate standing side by side with President Obama and his shiny golden Nobel coin necklace.
“
The real culprits are two Republicans who ran the show the previous eight
years: George W. Bush and his “master political strategist” Karl Rove.
“
That’s too simplistic.
Blame Dubya for keeping us safe without (a known) terrorist attack
on Americans (in the USA or abroad, outside of Iraq and Afghanistan)
following the harrowing events of 9-11?
Not me.
Dubya could have been tougher and pushed forward an attempt to fix
Social Security (which I never expect to see ONE PENNY of).
He could have told Rove “That illegal immigration problem can be fixed
by the next President/House/Senate.”
The real culprits (IMHO)?
The stinker Republicans in the House and Senate.
Having watched Jim Talent run one of the limpest Senatorial campaigns
against Clair McCaskill in Missouri in 2006...the Republicans
were simply wimpy and thus lost their seats in 2006.
And let the Democratic tidal wave wash over Washington, D.C.
I know that’s cruel. Jim Talent was a decent guy. But he and a load
of Republicans let themselves be “rolled” in 2006.
And now we suffer for it. Even if we called our Republican Senators
and Reps and said “FIGHT BACK, D-MMIT!!!”.
Instead they played the “Gentleman” politician role. And lost.
And now we’ll pay for it.
Until Election Day November 2010.
You've been ralling against Operation Iraqi Freedom for years and you've never bothered to read the legislation for it? Figures.
1. the undeclared and costly War in Iraq and its stepchild the unconstitutional Patriot Act.
Let's put the blame on Al Qaeda for triggering an inernational crisis that the USA was forced to respond to. Should we have folded like Spain? What should we have done to root out Al Qaeda cells that may have already been here, given that the 9/11 terrorists had been here since 1998, getting training from our own flight schools?
the monstrous No Child Left Behind Act that dramatically increased federal intervention in private education.Ted Kennedy was the "bipartisan" co-sponsor of this. Should Kennedy share the blame for this, or was Bush/Rove suckered by a wiley Kennedy into doing something ultimately damaging to the country? If so, then what was Kennedy's motive?
the Prescription Drug Act that gave the American people another benefit-corrupted entitlement and unfunded liability.
This was a politically motivated out-flanking move against the AARP alliance with Democrats during an election year. So what else is new? Can we list past actions in the same vein?
the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, largely due to their failure to reform government-sponsored agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.This is the same Fannie and Freddie that Democrats swore were healthy and blocked all attempts at reform?
-PJ
To accept the premise of this sophistry is to accept that Americans are so truly brain dead as to be DemocRATS for ever. I can’t wait for the sequel of how he blames the media for the election of Sarah Palin.
RabadashRAbs and his posse are so short sighted they will go to their deaths screaming about Bush, eeeevil RINOS (such as DeMint and Palin), the whole time Obama and the dems continue to enslave them. Demented 1%ers who live to be angry. Thank you for mocking them, they deserve it.
“I blame Norm Coleman for a lackluster campaign that wasted my money and a legal battle that wasted more.”
I am in 100% agreement with you. Norm Coleman’s campaign was one of the worst-run I’ve ever seen - with the possible exception of the Boschwitz re-election effort in 1990.
His six years in the Senate were virtually invisible. It’s alarming when I could tell a person where Senators like Tom Coburn stood on an issue - but couldn’t tell you where Norm Coleman stood on an issue.
His TV ads sucked. His debating skills sucked. The recount effort sucked.
Even given the new influx of Obama voters in this state, there’s still no reason why Coleman shouldn’t have beaten Franken by at least 5 points or more.
he has now lost to two of the biggest assclowns in Minnesota history, Jesse Ventura and Al Franken. I want Norm Coleman to go far away and never run for political office again.
This is the typical Ron Paul, anti war, leave Iran alone & anti Republican rants in multiple posts daily on FR
The more the posts, the more some will get a clue as
those tonight
I'm not going to blame Obamacare on Bush. That would be stupid. Obamacare is squarely the fault of Obama and any Democrats and RINOs foolish enough to jump on his bandwagon.
That said, the epic failure that was the Bush-Rove "compassionate conservatism" (aka Socialism cloaked in conservatism) certainly helped create the conditions under which Obama and the Democrats rose to power.
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