[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.
At some point this August (or later), you might hear somebody ask you – probably with at least a sniff in their voice; possibly with an outright sneer – why it is that all of a sudden conservatives/Republicans now are worried about deficits. What were we, asleep?
Not particularly, of course – nonetheless, I think that this (alas, anonymous) comment about the Columbus Tea Party (H/T: Instapundit) pretty much covers the specific objection:
They might have been asleep for the last 8 years, but when you triple the national debt in 6 months with political handouts, calling it stimulus, it tends to wake people up.
Use of this Heritage graphic optional, but probably satisfying:
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Moe, I completely agree with you, but what if you’re married to someone who completely identifies with the Democratic line because he has a little bit (and I emphasize “little”) of economic knowledge (and also because his family has always been Democrat/big union so it’s family tradition) There is no reasoning with these people, because they will never, ever admit another valid point of view.
Is this (among other, more germane) grounds for divorce?
RebeccaH: I don’t give out that kind of advice.
If a Bush deficit of $300Bil is bad, then an Obama deficit of $1Tril is worse… but where was the Republican Party in 2005, when we could have forestalled this?
Oh yeah – they were obsessing over gays and abortion, and inserting themselves into the private medical decisions of that poor family in Florida, that’s where.
Now, they’re ready to commit political suicide again, over Obama’s birth certificate.
Resenting the Republican party of several years ago is a bit of an indulgence right now. And not one that the country can particularly afford, either.
That is a step fraught with consequence, so consider it very carefully indeed. Been there, done that …
That being said, I recall what my friend George (now deceased, God rest him), learned from the AA folks: nobody ever changes until they hit bottom. This is true not just for alcoholics. We, as a nation, are close to, but not at, the bottom.
“inserting themselves into the private medical decisions of that poor family in Florida”
I recall both the Mother and Father asking for intervention. The more important question is: Why exactly did we allow people to withhold water from a brain damaged woman so the she could die from dehydration induced organ failure?
Yep, a GREAT country would have completely ignored this happening to one of its citizens, our poor country agonized over it for a few months.
So the democrats are complaining about Republicans deficits which were declining since 2004. I came here via Glenn Reynolds. I remember Glenn Reynolds started pointing out how the media lost interest in the deficits as soon as they started falling. If you go back through his archives you can find them. Maybe he’ll read this and post a link to them.
The Republican controlled Congress’ last budget was fiscal 2007. So the dems triple the defict the first budget year they take control of both houses of congress since 1994. Are they are asking us where we were when those deficits were coming down for the last 3 years or are they asking us where we were when they tripled the deficit in one year. These people are shameless. Intentionally obtuse in order to obfuscate their responsibilty.
Those who hide behind traditions as such are those of little mind, timid souls afraid of being a fully self-responsible adult – an individualist, who thinks, and acts on that thinking, like those of the Founding Fathers… remember, a gangster is a member of a gang, a tribe by whatever euphemism – not an individualist, which is the soul and uniqueness of this country…
Uh, alot of us WERE worried about the deficits. Why do you think we stayed home on November 4th? Because we figured John “Hey, let’s quit the campaign for a bit and push these huge expenditures through congress” McCain would be just as bad.
Republicans used to be small government. Then Bush came along with “Compassionate” (aka Big Government) Conservatism, and fiscal types stopped seeing a difference. We’re still worried. We’re even MORE worried.
Go back and look at pundit discussions during the ’06 and ’08 elections. K-Street and drunken-sailor budgets didn’t exactly HELP Republicans during those elections, did they.
Don’t forget the Democrats who bemoaned Republican fiscal irresponsibility, and now remain silent with deficits six times as big.
Yeah, I’m not so sure I’m going to buy the “If you could run up a $200 bil deficit, you’ve no moral authority to question my $1,000 bil dificit.”
I mean, let’s consider that in another venue. If you cheat on your wife, have you no moral authority to complain when I murder mine? Let’s not be ridiculous. Only in the vapid moral equivalence world of the left do these kind of tu quoque arguments have any force. Normal human beings find them tedious and childish.
I don’t know about you guys, but I was grousing at Porkbusters about Congress. If that irritated the Republicans, it probably irritates the Democrats. This shouldn’t be news, but it is simply because the Dems weren’t paying attention
“our poor country agonized over it (Teri Schiaveau – forgive me, I know that’s not the right spelling) for a few months”
Yes, and the ‘agonizing’ occurred exactly where it should have – at the state level, where civil court decisions are rendered and medical practice is regulated. Once those avenues are exhausted, one cannot simply run to the Federal statute book every time one objects to an outcome. To their eternal credit, the Federal judiciary (for once) respected the jurisdiction of the State of Florida in this matter.
One of the biggest reasons to oppose Barrycare is that it will open up individual and medical decision-making processes to regulation by the Federal government. “Teri’s Law”, well… opened up individual and medical decision-making processes to regulation by the Federal government. The parallels are striking.
Like it or not, the Republicans lost big in 2006 because they abandoned their small-government, fiscally-responsible, ‘government-should-butt-out’ roots. Once the GOP did that, social issues were all they had left – and that agenda strikes a lot of people (like me) as a conservative version of government nannyism.
Sometimes, your best friend is the man who tells you things you don’t want to hear. I’ll vote Republican in 2010, but I’ll be holding my nose when I do.