The Illusionist=Watch John McCain saw the budget in half!

[babylonsister]

TRB: The Illusionist by Jonathan Chait
Watch John McCain saw the budget in half!
Post Date Wednesday, June 11, 2008



If you accuse John McCain of agreeing with George W. Bush on economics, he'll come back at you with the one big issue where he and Bush disagree: spending. McCain may (now) approve of the Bush tax cuts, but he lacerates the president for his spendthrift ways. This, McCain says, is a "fundamental" difference between him and Bush.

But you know who else disagrees with George W. Bush on spending? George W. Bush. The president has been lamenting excessive spending for years now. Bush's line is the same as McCain's: The tax cuts are swell, but "hat's just one part of the equation. We've got to cut out wasteful spending."

Actually, McCain is following the pattern of not just Bush but every Republican president since Ronald Reagan. Phase One is to enact tax cuts and promise that they'll cause revenues to rise, or will cause revenues to fall (leading to spending cuts), or somehow both at once, so, either way, there's no possibility that it will lead to deficits. Phase Two is deficits. Phase Three is to blame the deficits on big-spending congressional fat cats and to issue increasingly strident threats to cut expenditures, without going so far as to identify actual programs to cut.

One of the tropes of this phase is railing against the evils of pork-barrel spending. President Bush's position is that earmarks are really bad. ("The time has come to end this practice ," he urges. "So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress.") McCain's position is that earmarks are really, really bad. He likes to hold up for ridicule a federal program to study bear DNA, and he has taken to using the same language to taunt congressional appropriators ("I'm their worst nightmare") that he otherwise reserves for Hamas.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=f5a811b8-a7e3-4615-8677-7f349950a9c7

[Hydra]

1. Actually, they love to cut social safety net items

as being "fiscally responsible," so these aren't nameless cuts.

Basically, anything that doesn't benefit them gets shredded, and anything that benefits them gets bloated.

Simple logic, and simple result- they benefit while we die.

[babylonsister]

2. Hopefully then, this will get lots of attention after the primary hoopla

calms down. I'm counting on it!

[Hydra]

4. We can hope

Is GD: P really that bad right now? I refuse to enter, since I've been sorry the last 4 times I've done so.

On a more sober note, I do wish people would get back on the issues...cuz they're huge!

[babylonsister]

5. No, it's pretty much a celebration over there today, IF you're

an Obama fan.

And I know what you mean about 'issues'. I keep trying to find McCain gems to post, but most of them sink.

I'm looking forward to people getting more serious, too.

[damntexdem]

3. Oh, he can do that easily -- first, saw the country in half.