Friday, September 12, 2003

Good ol' GOP Hypocrisy—target: Howard Dean

In June I reviewed what those whacky fascists at the RNC were saying about the Democratic candidates. It was insightful. Time for an update.

What do they have on the former Governor of Vermont? How ‘bout this little diddy reprinted from the Fair and Balanced Wall Street Journal:

On one occasion (1999) Mr. Dean did get the legislature to lower income-tax rates 4% across the board. But aside from that one instance, Mr. Dean gladly spent all he could take in. In Gov. Dean's early years, when he was still restricted by his predecessor's fiscal bailout program, he earned a respectable "B" on the Cato Institute's fiscal responsibility report card. By 2002 his ranking had dropped to "D."

Of course they don’t mention that Dean balanced the budget every year he was in office, even though not required to do so. Apparently, they just don’t like how he did it near the end of his tenure. They also don’t mention that at the end of Dean’s term the entire nation was mired in Shrubya’s recession.

What you won’t find anywhere on the RNC page is the recent assessment of the CATO Institute regarding the Debtor-in-Chief:

The Bush administration's newly released budget projections reveal an anticipated budget deficit of $450 billion for the current fiscal year, up another $151 billion since February. Supporters and critics of the administration are tripping over themselves to blame the deficit on tax cuts, the war, and a slow economy. But the fact is we have mounting deficits because George W. Bush is the most gratuitous big spender to occupy the White House since Jimmy Carter. One could say that he has become the "Mother of All Big Spenders."

Wonder what those conservative Cato cats think now that the deficit will be closer to $600 billion? What's lower than an "F"?

No comments: