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Words I Never Expected To Type (I miss the Bush era fiscal discipline... GULP !)
National Review ^ | 07/25/2010 | Kevin Williamson

Posted on 07/26/2010 7:06:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: Non-Sequitur
and the veto would have been overridden, in a bi-partisan fashion (think McCain, Graham, Snowe, Collins, Voinovich ...)

As mentioned earlier upthread, September 11 changed everything and the number one priority of the Bush administration was the global war on terror and the defense of the country. He determined that he had to choose his battles with the Dems strategically.

"For the record, every alternative budget offered by the Democrats during the Bush years called for more spending and higher taxes than the President's budget." ... Rove: Courage and Consequence, page 237.

41 posted on 07/26/2010 10:27:56 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (Obama is a man-caused disaster..........)
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To: Non-Sequitur
That doesn’t make it prudent or responsible

If you're from the camp that thinks that the curatiling the slide of major institutions like Morgan Stanley that were on the abyss of going down like Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual stopped a depression, then you likely think the TARP responsible.

If you're from the camp that thought the US needed banks to fail and bank runs to happen and thousands more small businesses to go out of business ikely jacking up unemployment to at least twice today's levels then I suppose you likely don't view the TARP as responsible.

42 posted on 07/26/2010 10:46:24 AM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: SeekAndFind
We are well rid of the Bushs.

Politicians coming up through the ranks watch what their seniors are doing. Bush was teaching Democrat ideals to thousands of future Republican leaders.

43 posted on 07/26/2010 10:50:39 AM PDT by RJL (Sarah Palin/Paul Ryan in 2012)
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To: Servant of the Cross
and the veto would have been overridden, in a bi-partisan fashion (think McCain, Graham, Snowe, Collins, Voinovich ...)

Check your Constitution. It takes 67 votes in the Senate to override a veto. There weren't 15 to 17 Republicans that would vote to override.

As mentioned earlier upthread, September 11 changed everything and the number one priority of the Bush administration was the global war on terror and the defense of the country

And as I said, it wouldn't be hard to find Democrats justifying their spending as being best for the country, because priority one is helping people being hurt by the economy.

So then why not agree that fiscal discipline was the last thing he was interested in, and that to say that his administration was a fiscally responsible era is complete crap?

44 posted on 07/26/2010 11:05:03 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: RJL

To put those numbers in perspective, Canada is spending the equivalent to the US spending 250 billion dollars a year. Essentially our deficit is one sixth of what Obama is spending.

Personally, I think the deficit up here is far too high.

I think Obama is insane, and in just a year, he’s managed to eradicate one of the more significant advantages in terms of government indebtedness that you folks have over Canada.


45 posted on 07/26/2010 11:06:14 AM PDT by BenKenobi (We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once. -Silent Cal)
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To: Siena Dreaming

I’m from the camp which believes that government expenditures must be matched by government revenue, and if you increase spending in one area then you must either increase revenue or decrease spending in another. We’re kind of funny that way.


46 posted on 07/26/2010 11:06:31 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Non-Sequitur
There weren't 15 to 17 Republicans that would vote to override.

Sure there were. A budget had to be passed. You don't veto a budget without a replacement that is agreed to by a majority. The Dems and their compliant media fought everything he was trying to do. They trumped up non-budgetary distractions endlessly - Exhibit A: Joe Wilson.

You are blinded by your BDS, no different than Michael Moore's same illness.

47 posted on 07/26/2010 11:15:28 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (Obama is a man-caused disaster..........)
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To: SeekAndFind
I have said, on several occasions, that the only way I expect a Republican to defeat Obama in 2012 is if unemployment persists at very high levels or if there is another major economic disruption.

That's pretty easy to refute: Republicans will lose to Mickey Mouse if they run another BobDull or Juan McPain. There is an old expression in politics: "You can't beat somebody with nobody."

Never forget, the GOP is nicknamed "The Stupid Party." Mitt Romney = four more years.

48 posted on 07/26/2010 11:15:58 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: agere_contra

That’s assuming there is an intent to pay down the principle. We’re only paying on the interest. This is the equivalent of an interest-only mortgage on a house.


49 posted on 07/26/2010 11:19:11 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Siena Dreaming
He's losing the far left fast, even though pandering to them every day.

Don't confuse how they act today with how they'll act when there is a threat they'll get a conservative President. They'll fall in line in time, they always do. They have nowhere else to go.

50 posted on 07/26/2010 11:21:44 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Non-Sequitur

Absolutely correct. Just because Obama is worse doesn’t mean that we should let Bush II off the hook. Bush’s deficits make you look back favorably to Clinton’s budgets, some of which were balanced or very close to it.


51 posted on 07/26/2010 11:36:47 AM PDT by Wallop the Cat
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To: SeekAndFind
So what you're saying is that if you the NYTs had learned their order of operations in multiplication/division, that they would realize that Obama’s cuts in 1/2 equate to being roughly twice of what we had under Bush? lol
52 posted on 07/26/2010 11:45:42 AM PDT by Red6 (IMHO)
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To: Wallop the Cat
Non- argument.

1. Clinton didn't do anything for that budget, it was a Contract with America: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America

2. Bush was in office during a major conflict and this conflict was used by the opposition party to do what they wanted with spending, attaching everything known to God to defense and Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental spending bills.

You're giving both men credit/discredit out of context or over which they had little control, they just happened to occupy that position when a series of events unfolded. Bush was dealt a bad hand and did very well, the best one can reasonably expect especially after 2006 when the House (Which controls spending) went Democrat.

53 posted on 07/26/2010 11:55:24 AM PDT by Red6 (IMHO)
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To: SeekAndFind

The public has become “blame Bush” and “race card” resistant.


54 posted on 07/26/2010 12:10:02 PM PDT by Spok (Free Range Republican)
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To: Non-Sequitur
Therefore, you would have been happy having the US going into depression.

Problem is...depressions pave the way for demogogues...like the Obama plan on steroids.

55 posted on 07/26/2010 12:11:27 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: Cyber Liberty
Well, if he goes left enough to pick up his base, he'll lose the middle, who seem to be gravitating toward a conservative message.

I just don't think he can get all the demographics he got last time.

56 posted on 07/26/2010 12:15:00 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: Siena Dreaming

Playing on White Guilt and then slapping the faces of the voters is never a good long-term strategy.


57 posted on 07/26/2010 12:19:40 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Non-Sequitur
I’m from the camp which believes that government expenditures must be matched by government revenue, and if you increase spending in one area then you must either increase revenue or decrease spending in another.

Well stated conservative thinking. Here's a picture of the revenues during the Bush Presidency ...

“Bush matched his 2001 tax cuts with additional cuts in 2003 that ended double taxation of dividends, reduced capital gains taxes, and cut small business taxes. These tax cuts – along with spending restraint – produced 52 straight months of job creation, and more than 8 million new jobs. The Bush years witnessed the longest period of economic growth since President Reagan. From 2000 to 2008, real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by more than 18.5 percent. Labor productivity inceased an average of 1.5 percent annually, faster than in the 1970’s, ‘80’s, and ‘90’s. Real after-tax income per capita increased by more than 11 percent. The American economy grew from $9.7 trillion in 2000 to $14.2 trillion at the end of 2008, even while suffering a financial crisis late in the Bush presidency. That $4.5 trillion in growth alone is bigger than the entire Japanese economy. Such things do not happen by accident.” … Rove: Courage and Consequence, page 236

58 posted on 07/26/2010 12:23:04 PM PDT by Servant of the Cross (Obama is a man-caused disaster..........)
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To: Cyber Liberty

True.


59 posted on 07/26/2010 12:24:58 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: Servant of the Cross
A budget had to be passed.

Yeah, and the president is sitting in the cat-bird seat. If memory serves, Bill Clinton used vetoing budgets and the consequential government shut-downs as a pretty effective tool for getting what he wanted from Newt Gingrich.

You are blinded by your BDS, no different than Michael Moore's same illness.

And you seem to be suffering from a severe case of BBAS yourself.

60 posted on 07/26/2010 12:42:15 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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