This was a response on the Scranton Times Comments page to some asshole named Nitross who was bitching and crying that it wasn't fair that any time he and his teabagger buddies still tried to complain about Obama and the debt ceiling, (even though they got every god-damned thing they wanted with crippling aid cuts, a momentary debt increase and no new taxes or even a single loophole closure!) Bush and all the problems he created should somehow be off the table as if when a new president is elected, the past administration just simply should be expunged from our collective memories. If only that were true...
Here’s a bit of what he said:
Nitross: "Exactly! His [Obama's] addiction to spending is out of control. I don't know how they can justify that chart other than to say most of Obama's debt is somehow Bush's fault. When Obama took office, our deficit was around $10.5 trillion." {Which apparently was totally fine} Today, we are well on our way to $15 trillion by the end of the year, and close to $16 trillion when his first term is over {even though the president has nothing to do with the instituting of federal spending or taxes}
(does this guy Nitross have any idea what the interest on 10.5 trillion is complied on top of 500 billion in additional defense and war costs all while we are seeing the biggest cutbacks in state and federal spending in history???) And then he goes on to say:
"Humm...what Bush did to our economy? Really? So I guess 9/11 had...NOTHING...to do with the slowing of the economy, or that fact we needed to get UBL? Talk about short memories...the fact people forget Bush was in the Oval Office less than one year before 9/11 was tossed on his lap. Short memories indeed! "
This is what I said in response...
Me: "So 9/11 was "Tossed in his lap" after he was warned by the CIA, the FBI, the Counterterrorism task force, Richard Clark, Interpol and German Intelligence and a security briefing that was titled "Bin Laden determined to attack within the U.S." a week before the attacks occurred. 9/11 hurt the economy how exactly? People got understandably depressed and upset after the attack and Bush told us to shop and go on vacation. It made for extremely good fiscal years for the guys at Bradley, Lockheed, Honeywell, Halliburton, Blackwater and the like. Energy, Credit, Banks, Housing, Lenders...they all were doing great and would have continued to do so if they didn't actively self-destruct on account of their own mindless greed (and lack of oversight and regulation promoted by the GOP).
The only "homeland security" we need right there.
The party of "small government" was all for expansion of federal powers, even creating a new, inadequate, bloated, federal wing of Homeland Security which could have been done by the guys we already had protecting us domestically like the FBI, Border Patrol and Coast guard. During the last 12 years we've seen the evisceration of constitutional rights and the strong-arming of the sensible and undecideds into doing exactly what the hawks demanded at risk of being called terrorist-sympathizers or god-forbid "flip-floppers!" This was all compiled with the ludicrous idea that this somehow all of this would "pay for itself “as Paul Wolfowitz insisted.
Amazingly enough we unilaterally went into an unrelated sovereign nation under the guess of preemptive war and thus caused a 6 year civil war where both sides hate us and that doesn't raise one congressional eyebrow but the current president sent military aid to a joint task force to assist freedom fighters who asked for our help against a refuted long-time enemy of the U.S. (who was linked to numerous attacks on U.S. targets and civilians) and now he's being called the tyrant? Did I miss something?
The events after 9/11 slowed the economy when the roundtable were given tax-breaks and direct incentives to outsource jobs and defraud the American people to the tune of trillions and all got away scot-free. There's a reason the poor ultra-rich are shouldered with the "tax-burden" they deplore. They have fixed the game so that they are so ridiculously ahead of everyone else that they are the only ones remotely eligible for income tax liability and it sure as hell isn't because "they worked hard for it and thus deserve it while everyone else should freeze and starve."
Where is the justice in the fact that a third of those employed in this country are still below the poverty line? Where’s the justice that the 16,000 richest families have more cumulative wealth than the poorest 160,000,000 families? (Guess which ones get the tax breaks?) If you can name one government ever in world history that didn't need taxes to support itself, let me know. There's also a reason the tea-party loves the original tea-party; they were both made up of wealthy elites who wanted to use slave labor (or pay slave wages) while simultaneously demanding to be exempt from paying for wars and political systems that directly benefited them and they supported. (7 years War/War on Terror - apples to apples)
He sure is...too bad the feds killed him, he woulda made a great congressman.
Hmmmm, Might be too moderate though.The right and corporate America caught wind of Obama’s electoral victory and wanted to get a piece of that grass-roots action and activism, however "grass-roots" is not very associated with anything republican so they used the regular rank and file donors (Koch, Army, Murdoch and the like) to find, unite and fund as many anti-government radicals and frindgers as possible, wrap it in the flag, dress it with ultra-nationalistic buzz words and bring it to mainstream attention. I'm surprised they didn't go with "Patriot Party." This movement is nothing new; there were always crazies under the floorboards. We saw them in Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City. Only thing is now they are being brought into the fold by having their very own brand of insane candidates to help them hijack and destroy the government by being elected to it. Under the guise of populism, racism and greed. This happened in history before only these people were called "brown-shirts." The Weimar republic thought they could control them too just as I am suspecting speaker Boehner is thinking, he just better be ready when these "freshmen" show how dangerous they are willing to be."
Keep on drinking that delicious Koolaid!
