GOP throws Obama's old deficit stands back at him

Associated Press ^ | Dec 11, 2012 2:17 PM (ET) | CHARLES BABINGTON

[DJ MacWoW]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Some of the best Republican arguments against President Barack Obama's proposals to avoid a "fiscal cliff" come from the president himself, in comments he made months or years before his re-election.

Stung by the GOP's midterm election gains in 2010, Obama took stands that differ from his current positions on raising tax rates, adjusting Social Security and other topics now dominating Washington as a Dec. 31 deadline nears.

[DJ MacWoW]

Ho-Hum. They aren't serious. It's all for show.

The one they should have been using all along is this:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

[KarlInOhio]

Completely different. That was Bush’s reckless spending. Now it is Obama’s heroic investment. I’m sure that clears it up. < /sarc, as if you needed it>

[DJ MacWoW]

Um............yeah. But thank you for the help anyway. :-)

[The_Victor]

bump for later

[ArGee]

That was then, this is now.

~ President Barak H. Obama, November, 2012.

[DJ MacWoW]

And the Republicans are too spineless to use it.

[what's up]

Boehner also must live with ghosts from the failed "grand bargain" talks of 2011. Chief among them is his willingness to generate $800 billion in new federal revenue

No, this is NOT a ghost. Boehner is still calling for $800 B.

Obama is the only ghost here no matter how much the media wants to spin some kind of moral relativity.

[RedStateRocker]

Cheney to Treasury: “Deficits don’t matter”
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was told “deficits don’t matter” when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.

O’Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush’s economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from “the corporate crowd,” a key constituency.

O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due.” A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.
Source: [X-ref O’Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004

[Las Vegas Ron]

Great post DJ!

How ya doing, haven’t seen you in a while ;)

[DJ MacWoW]

I've done better.

How are you?

[Las Vegas Ron]

About the same, really nice to see you!

[RedStateRocker]

The really sad thing is not so much that both parties are being entirely hypocritical (few Republicans had any issue with raising the ceiling when President Bush was in office) but that a ‘mere’ 500 billion looks so quaint now.

[DJ MacWoW]

[Cheerio]

I wonder how far back the data can be analyzed - is King Obama the first President ever since WWII to have hit the 25% level?

[DJ MacWoW]

I wish that I had saved the info but didn’t. Obama and FDR lead the pack. They outspent everyone else back to Geo. Washington.