Conservative Bruce Barlett calls out GOPs "misplaced" rage!!

[Phx_Dem]

Loooooove it!


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-...

"Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no economist who holds that view. The economy is like an ocean liner that turns only very slowly. The gross domestic product and the level of employment would be pretty much the same today under any conceivable set of policies enacted since Barack Obama’s inauguration."

<SNIP>

"Conservative protesters should remember that the recession, which led to so many of the policies they oppose, is almost entirely the result of Bush’s policies. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007—long before Obama was even nominated. And the previous recession ended in November 2001, so the current recession cannot be blamed on cyclical forces that Bush inherited.

Indeed, Bush’s responsibility for the recession is implicit in every conservative analysis of its origins. The most thorough has been done by John Taylor, a respected economist from Stanford University who served during most of the Bush administration as the No. 3 official at the Treasury Department. In his book, Getting Off Track, he puts most of the blame on the Federal Reserve for holding interest rates down too low for too long."

<SNIP>

"Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect." STOP! YOU'RE KILLING ME!!! :applause:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-12/the-gops-misplaced-rage/full/

[Bluerthanblue]

1. wow..... i'm speechless.

is this a joke?

[Phx_Dem]

3. It was posted on The Daily Beat and appears to be legit. The guy's

an economist so he's the one smart Republican in the party. Apparently.

[Patsy Stone]

2. That was fun!

Thanks. K&R!

[Old Codger]

4. They actually

Have one brain left among them....

[indepat]

5. Someone with computer moxie, please send this to every shrill CNBC RW talking-head shill and

Herr Jack Welch. :applause: :applause: :applause:

[City Lights]

6. A Republican telling it like it is!

:wow:

[SoFlaJet]

7. THESE are the voices from the right

that can be respected and NEED to be heard from more-not the 'morans' who carry signs with Obama's picture made to look like Hitler on them.

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. KICK AND RECOMMEND!!!

[OneGrassRoot]

9. HUGE K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

10. well good grief, in my haste to recommend....

I clicked the friggin unrecommend. Can't figure out how to reverse it?

Sorry. :(

Maybe someone will come in and override my unrec. I've never even intentionally unrecommended a post!

[myrna minx]

11. We can split my recommend vote.

:pals:

[OneGrassRoot]

12. :)

:pals:

Thank you! :)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. done

[Matt_in_STL]

14. K&R n/t

[Hamlette]

15. read the whole thing, it is excellent

Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real GDP grew 34.7 percent. Between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2008, it grew 15.9 percent, less than half as much.

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real gross private domestic investment almost doubled. By the fourth quarter of 2008, real investment was 6.5 percent lower than it was when Bush was elected.

• Between December 1992 and December 2000, payroll employment increased by more than 23 million jobs, an increase of 21.1 percent. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it rose by a little more than 2.5 million, an increase of 1.9 percent. In short, about 10 percent as many jobs were created on Bush’s watch as were created on Clinton’s.

• During the Bush years, conservative economists often dismissed the dismal performance of the economy by pointing to a rising stock market. But the stock market was lackluster during the Bush years, especially compared to the previous eight. Between December 1992 and December 2000, the S&P 500 Index more than doubled. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it fell 34 percent. People would have been better off putting all their investments into cash under a mattress the day Bush took office.

• Finally, conservatives have an absurdly unjustified view that Republicans have a better record on federal finances. It is well-known that Clinton left office with a budget surplus and Bush left with the largest deficit in history. Less well-known is Clinton’s cutting of spending on his watch, reducing federal outlays from 22.1 percent of GDP to 18.4 percent of GDP. Bush, by contrast, increased spending to 20.9 percent of GDP. Clinton abolished a federal entitlement program, Welfare, for the first time in American history, while Bush established a new one for prescription drugs."

You've always known this was true but to see it in print, and by a republican, is vindication. Wish everyone could see this.

[margotb822]

16. You didn't quote the best line:

In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008. They are primarily Republican Party hacks trying to overturn the election results, not representatives of a true grassroots revolt against liberal policies. If that were the case they would have been out demonstrating against the Medicare drug benefit, the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, and all the pork-barrel spending that Bush refused to veto.

This sums it all up!

[Hamlette]

17. perhaps, but I added my fav to my signature.

I think. (this is a test post)

[JBoy]

18. K&R. This is great reading!