What Karl Rove got wrong on the U.S. deficit

[liberal N proud]

For its Topic A feature last Sunday, The Post invited a panel of political operatives to offer their advice to the Democratic Party on strategy for 2010 . Improbably, one of the operatives asked was Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's longtime chief strategist.

Rove has some impressive campaign victories to his credit. But given the shape in which the last administration left this country, I'm not sure I would solicit his advice. And given the backhanded advice he offered, I'm not sure he was all that eager to help.

Of all the claims Rove made, one in particular caught my eye for its sheer audacity and shamelessness -- that congressional Democrats "will run up more debt by October than Bush did in eight years."

So, let's review a little history:

The day the Bush administration took over from President Bill Clinton in 2001, America enjoyed a $236 billion budget surplus -- with a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. When the Bush administration left office, it handed President Obama a $1.3 trillion deficit -- and projected shortfalls of $8 trillion for the next decade. During eight years in office, the Bush administration passed two major tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, enacted a costly Medicare prescription-drug benefit and waged two wars, without paying for any of it.

More at link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011403909.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline

[11 Bravo]

1. Everything?

[Make7]

2. "Deficits don't matter." - Dick Cheney ( n/t )

[kentuck]

3. This is a very effective and strong argument for the Democrats...

I don't know why they don't use it more?

[gratuitous]

4. Because Republicans are the Party of Fiscal Responsibility

Jeez, don't you know anything? Everyone knows and agrees that it's the Republicans who know the value of a dollar and who practice the most responsible, uh, practices, when it comes to the federal budget. All the Republicans agree on that. And their pals in the media say every chance they get. So it must be true!