Greenspan Attacks Bush and Lauds Clinton

[BenDavid]

Source: Newsvine

Alan Greenspan, who was chairman of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades, in a long-awaited memoir, is harshly critical of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Republican-controlled Congress, as abandoning their party’s principles on spending and deficits.

They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose” in the 2006 election, when they lost control of the House and Senate.

Of the presidents he worked with, Mr. Greenspan reserves his highest praise for Bill Clinton, whom he described in his book as a sponge for economic data who maintained “a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth.”



Read more: http://catch22.newsvine.com/_news/2007/09/15/964322-greenspan-attacks-bush-on-fiscal-policy-and-lauds-clinton

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This will be a huge PLUS for the HRC campaign.....

Ben David

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Once again...where were his words when they could have made a REAL difference?

He can join the likes of Justice O'Connor and Gen Powell in the too little too late Hall of Fame...

[sutz12]

2. No shit! We could have used this commentary in 2002, or 2004, or 2006 for that matter. nt

[aquart]

6. Exactly what I was wondering.

Am I wrong in thinking that opinion doesn't seem to have reached his wife?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. well put.

that is exactly the point. This after the fact bravery, once they ink the book deal, wears on one after a time.

[Cha]

3. greenspan finally woke up?!

Did someone mainline 'im some jet fuel?

[aquart]

8. Excellent question.

Perhaps it's a side effect of Viagra?

[Oldenuff]

10. It's more likely short term memory loss

Looks like Greenspan finally found some backbone.And I agree with the other posters here....what took him so long?

[Dan]

20. All of these 'true believers'

are not changing, they are just betting that the Democrats will win big in 2008 - and they are hoping to continue having a plate at the table.

If there were a 50/50 chance that the GOP could hold onto the POTUS and Congress, they would be praising Bush's sorry ass.

These are political animals, where ethics, morality, or values take a backseat to power, or access to power.

My thoughts.

[Cha]

23. There's

that! buSHIT is definetly a loser and the only ones who don't see that are the dinos in congress, the corporatewelfare kings, and the ones who believe he has a direct line to whatever.

Maybe greenspan wants to have some kind of legacy in history other than a complete toady?

[Eagle_Eye]

4. Alan Greenspan now casts his vote: Bush is the worst president ever

[Arugula Latte]

21. Andrea Mitchell has been keeping his 'nads in their safe deposit box. nt

[leftchick]

5. sorry, Greenspan has ZERO credibility

who the fuck cares what he thinks?

[aquart]

7. Since the markets lived and breathed by his pronouncements for years

I suspect quite a few.

[JBoy]

13. He's got at least some credibility among non-Democrats

so say it loud and often, Econo-Yoda!

[pretzel4gore]

9. such courage!

greedspan always seemed the money numbers man for the gang, yet here he is DEFYING THE GANG! holy kamolie! He knows bush is a stone killer; ted bundy with a texan drawl, and STILL HE stand up and is counted (his book is gonna be a best seller- though that has nothing to do with Mr grenspan's courageous denouncing of the death star gopig and capt Cheney!)
Greenspan better stay outta deep sea diving bells, and the target area of shooting ranges! if he was wise, he'd avoid entering the polar bear section out at the zoo (and the male elephant's range too)
to quote the brave reporter Dan Rawther, 'Courage' Al!

[bemildred]

11. I guess Alan is worried about his "legacy" too.

Too bad he didn't have the guts to do something about it when he was still in office.

[InkAddict]

12. Who could have imagined......

How I have come to despise that phrase, so full of excuse or culpability! He just wants his memoirs to be a Barnes & Noble bestseller now that he's only half-way through that tedious task of remembering just how in the blazes all those mortgage lenders and that military-industrial BFEE cabal could shore up the black gold mine that Cheney coveted and/or *s permanent tax give-a-way which was sure to collapse our economy one way or the other via inflation, deflation, stagnation, or just plain PEAK at any moment--reverse mining is dangerous, no Alan?

Sorry, Al, no applause for your hindsight or your attaboys. You'll need more than a book to bludgeon the MORANS in Amerika into lucid awareness of the legacy of the expertise that you so willingly then either planned, assisted, and/or withheld!

Either way, your invalidation of the Neo-con agenda now doesn't exactly earn you a white hat. Seems to me that you're just another gray-hatted, bald-patted head, and YESTERDAY'S GONE, YESTERDAY'S GONE!

Who could have imagined that he made his and wants still more - OMG, I used it too. BLECK!

Gads, it's like those spaghetti-Westerns - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE (JUST PLAIN) UGLY/A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS/FOR A FEW(COLLAPSING)DOLLARS MORE!

It's too late to REPO your soul, Alan, but I hope and pray it will help us clean up the humongous mess.

[rodeodance]

14. I am glad this is getting some press.

[MasonJar]

15. Still one has to laugh out loud at how the Bushistas must feel now that they

have been called to account. I love the fact that he praises Clinton; that alone should fry the scatters in the WH.

[unkachuck]

16. translation....

....republican president and congress loots the treasury and gives the cash to their corporate buddies as tax breaks, war-profiteering, using our military to steal others property for their benefit and unbalances the budget in the process....

....new Dem president and congress must NOT loot the treasury and give the cash to the people as tax breaks, single-payer universal healthcare, renewed infrastructure, functioning government and should now balance the budget so we, the looting republicans, will have something to loot next time around....

[Baby Snooks]

17. Or a Huge Minus for HRC

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2461214.ece

"However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says."

And will continue to be unless Congress puts a stop to it. Now. Not after the elections in 2008. If Pelosi still refuses to begin impeachment proceedings, her constituents, if they really care about the future of this country, will move to recall her.

As for Hillary Clinton and every other member of Congress, they had an obligation to verify the veracity of what was presented to them them prior to approving the war. They did not. The blood of over a million innocent Iraqis is on their hands as well.

By her own admission, she didn't even read what was presented. Just assumed there must have been WMDs. After all, would a president lie? That right there sums up Hillary Clinton for quite a few people given that Bill Clinton lied. Maybe she believes as the Bushes do in the "noble lie." Nothing noble about any lie on the part of a president. Particularly when it results in the murder of over a million innocent people for oil.

[Baby Snooks]

18. And the murder of possibly half a million innocent people in New York...

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/oct/the-9-11-cover-up

"Giuliani should be banned from public office for what he did."

I don't recall Hillary Clinton expressing much concern over the possibility that the air was not safe. Maybe she assumed Guiliani knew what he was doing. And wouldn't lie.

They will probably be the candidates for president in 2008. What a choice for the American people.

[PittPoliSci]

19. “a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth.”

that would describe kennedy, not clinton.

[KalicoKitty]

22. Greenspan should have been put out to pasture years ago!

He was a Bush butt kisser for years and kept raising those interest rates! No wonder folks can't afford their mortgage payments anymore.

[harpboy_ak]

24. Too much cognitive dissonance for Repukes

They can't deal with the fact that the economy and stock market always do better when Democrats run things, paying off Repuke deficits and balancing budgets. You'd think that their heads would explode from the cognitive dissonance between reality and ideology.

[Lasher]

25. He's trying to distance himself from Junior's catastrophic economic policies.

These would be the very same policies that he helped to enable. Who could forget the Greenspan of 2001, who was wringing his hands about those horrific Clinton surpluses, to help justify enormous tax cuts for the wealthy elite? Have you even started to wonder, Alan, what happened to that trickle-down rising tide? Same thing as in Saint Ronnie's day, perhaps?

Nobody likes to admit that their lives have been wasted. That's why this self-described “libertarian Republican” is projecting his share of the blame onto the most recent batch of his co-conspirators.

[Vidar]

26. Better late than never.

[Kolesar]

27. No, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will not be able to claim any credit for success

...on account of successful monetary policy fourteen years ago. She has been voting for bush's fiscal disasters like the eternal Iraq War.

[Toucano]

28. Irrational Exuberance!

Greenspan had more power and influence over the economy than Bush did. All he needed to do was speak up.

[blm]

29. So - then WHY did Greenspan stay SILENT before the 2004 election cycle?

Because the establishment STILL doesn't want an open government Democrat in the oval office.