GOP budget hawks chicken out early [Joe Scarborough BARF alert]

Politico ^ | December 12, 2010 | Joe Scarborough

[ejdrapes]

GOP budget hawks chicken out early By: Joe Scarborough December 14, 2010 04:40 AM EST Well, that didn't take long. Less than a month after handing the president a shellacking, Republicans who ran against Obama's fiscal recklessness added another trillion dollars to America's debt. Even before being sworn in to start the 112th Congress, the GOP has become a co-conspirator in what Charles Krauthammer is calling the "swindle of the year"—a scheme that will "pump a trillion borrowed Chinese dollars into the U.S. economy over the next two years." It seems that the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist is one of the few conservatives left in Washington to give a damn about America's deficit crisis. He is certainly the only columnist who understands what we have been saying on "Morning Joe" for a week: that Barack Obama is about to pass another reckless stimulus bill. But this time, the same GOP leaders who once vilified the president as a socialist will be his closest allies. Krauthammer dismisses Obama's "newest free lunch" as little more than a second stimulus package that will "blow another $1 trillion hole in the budget." One GOP senator who voted against Obama's second stimulus plan said the vote was an easy one to take. "The debt can't just be something we talk about in our campaigns," Nevada's John Ensign told me after casting his no vote Monday night. "These deficits will destroy us. I just couldn't vote for new spending and new tax giveaways without a single offset." Oklahoma's Tom Coburn, Alabama's Jeff Sessions and South Carolina's Jim DeMint joined Ohio's George Voinovich in voting against the budget busting stimulus plan. Aside from Krauthammer and the small group of deficit hawks, the rest of the Republican Party is marching in lockstep behind a stimulus plan that puts America deeper in debt than the stimulus scheme devised by Nancy Pelosi in 2009. All the president had to do was wave tax cuts in front of Republican leaders and, like Pavlov's dogs, they began to drool. Once the salivating stops, America will be $1 trillion deeper in debt to China and our growing list of creditors. By now no one should be surprised by the Republican Party's dementia when dealing with the debt. After all, this is the same party who campaigned on fiscal restraint before turning a a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a $1 trillion dollar deficit. Like Senator Tom Coburn and a few conservative holdovers from the 1990s, I issued early warnings every step of the way. What is so disturbing six years later is how little things have changed in that time. This is what I wrote in 2004 in my book "Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day": "If you want tax cuts, you get them. Want to increase defense spending to over $400 billion? Sure. How about an $8 trillion Medicare drug bill? We know it will bankrupt the system but we need those seniors voting for us. And why not keep conservatives happy by passing another tax cut? Maybe then they will forget their president teamed up with Ted Kennedy to pass the biggest education bureaucracy bill ever." Two years later in September 2006, I penned a piece for The Washington Post. "Our president was wrong to believe that the United States could fight a war, cut taxes and increase federal spending, all at once." In October 2006, I noted in Washington Monthly that Bush Republicans allowed the federal government to explode at record rates, with spending for the education bureaucracy up 101% under Bush, the Justice Department up 131%, Commerce up 82%, HHS up 81%, State up 80%, the Department of transportation up 65%, and the four agencies targeted for elimination by my 1994 class averaging 85% increases in Bush's first term. While I was reporting on the Bush Republicans' outrageous spending habits, Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats were promising to put America's financial house in order. "Democrats are talking about no deficits — we're talking about fiscal responsibility," Pelosi said on the campaign trail in 2006. She bluntly declared that Democrats would "put an end to deficit spending." Of course we know how that story ended. For four years, Nancy Pelosi presided over the most fiscally reckless Congress in U.S. history. Like Republicans, they also refused to heed warnings from the few remaining fiscal conservatives in Washington. Tax cuts, two wars, massive Pentagon budgets, budget busting bailouts, bloated agency increases, and unchecked entitlement growth were the norm whether Bush or Obama were sitting in the Oval Office. Following Barack Obama's victory in 2008, I wrote "The Last Best Hope," blasting the new president for continuing Bush's radical Keynesian approach to economic policy. "Mr. Obama chose to respond to a crisis brought on by too much spending and too much debt with even more spending and even more debt. Few in the national press noted the absurdity of the president trying to get out of debt by racking up historic deficits." Few still do. Instead of borrowing another trillion dollars from China, Washington's reckless leaders could have offset Obama's second stimulus plan with longterm budget cuts. That would have sent a message to markets around the world that like Germany and Britain, the United States is ready to get its financial house in order. Paying for Stimulus II would have also sent a message to voters that Republicans finally mean what they say. But for now, neither Republicans nor Democrats seem particularly interested in saving this country from economic collapse. I wish both parties the best of luck in the 2012 elections. Judging from last week's pathetic performance, they will both need it. © 2010 Capitol News Company, LLC

[ejdrapes]

What a smug SOB Scarborough is. And obviously someone who doesn't get economics if he believes cutting taxes (or in this case keeping the rates the same!) cause budget deficits. Tax cuts are NOT spending, they don't cost the government anything. Of course he had to get a plug in for his book, as it's always ALL about him. Every day on his show it's always about when he was in congress.

I'd still love to know why Joe left congress. Was he a big shot in the party when he was in congress? He's a very bitter man and a lot like Obama, has this chip on his shoulder. I know you can't be on MSNBC without being liberal but his hatred towards his party is often times worse than anyone else he has on his show. There has to be more to it than, just being on MSNBC and being told you have to rip Republicans on a daily basis.

[Joann37]

While Scarborough heavily credits himself here for being prescient, he does bring up good points, and credits Krauthammer’s “Swindle of the Year” article from last week.

And he, Krauthammer, DeMint, Coburn et al are correct - this is Stimulus II, with no offsets, and is directly opposed to what we voted for on Nov. 2. The idiot GOP hasn’t even taken over yet, and they’re giving away the ship. Boehner and McConnell are trouble and need to be replaced!

[muawiyah]

Just more Scarborough propaganda. He was in Congress. He knows the Republicans don’t yet control the House.

[Venturer]

I ‘m afraid you are right.

The new Congress isn’;t seated yet and already the old regime Republican’s are giving away the store.

[muawiyah]

No, this is what you voted for 2 years ago, not this year.

Obama is your President and until you actually control at least one house of Congress this is the best you are going to get out of him.

BTW, there is NO BUDGET. Democrats haven't succeeded in passing one.

Frankly, the way to put an end to this sort of talk is to PROHIBIT IMMIGRATION from countries that operate under a Parliamentary system.

[MBB1984]

Agree. Stimulus II is another orgy of Pork spending. The GOP has not changed or learned from its flagrant mistakes. Our nation is ruled by Marxists and Marxist lite Republicans.

If we do not get our financial house in order this nation is doomed.

[MBB1984]

It doesn’t matter. A majority of Republicans in the Senate voted for Stimulus II—More Pork and even more Deficit. Most of those Senators will be in the next Congress.

[kindred]

[Republicans who ran against Obama’s fiscal recklessness added another trillion dollars to America’s debt. Even before being sworn in to start the 112th Congress, the GOP has become a co-conspirator in what Charles Krauthammer is calling the “swindle of the year”—a scheme that will “pump a trillion borrowed Chinese dollars into the U.S. economy...]

A sad truth. We need a new party, the barrell of rotten apples adage is so very true and the rinos are in cahoots with the communist democrats.

[muawiyah]

Hmm, then you'll want to specify "Senate Republicans" next time. The "House Republicans" don't yet have the power, but in 20 days they will.

You'll notice that Obama has not been able to meet the terms of the agreement ~ he obviously has no position of leadership within the Democrat party.

Speaker Boehner said that if/when nothing happens the first order of business in January will be to pass the tax extension RETROACTIVELY.

Remember, the House can start de novo at that time and prepare a bill without pork in it.

Now, regarding "pork", if all that's happening is Congress asserting a line-item preference for money that would have been spent by the Executive on something similar but possibly in a different place, there's no savings in getting rid of that. What you need to do is cut out NEW PORK.

[EternalVigilance]

Remember, the House can start de novo at that time and prepare a bill without pork in it.

And you believe they will do that?

[muawiyah]

Do you believe they won"t?

BTW, "pork" is the least of our financial problems.

[Ann Archy]

This is a CRAP bill that should have been put off until the new Congress!! IDIOTS!

[Soul Seeker]

I’m not a fan of Scarborough but the Republicans did betray the promise they campaigned on. They promised they had learned their lesson. I didn’t believe them, especially those in the Senate but it takes a certain amount of arrogance to abandon it in one month.

NO EXCUSES! Even if Democrats control both chambers and the W.H. that doesn’t mean they had to help them pass this and they certainly didn’t have to craft this bad legislation. Yeah, the tax cuts remain in place two years. Big deal. that’s been the GOP’s operating procedure for years. Spend high, tax low. I’m not interested in doing the same thing.

[Prokopton]

Active campaigns against any Senator that did not get the message in November should begin now/

[EternalVigilance]

I have no expectations for these people, so there is no danger of my being disappointed.

[EternalVigilance]

By the way, you didn’t answer my question.

[Spiff]

I’m no Scarborogh fan, but the barf alert is undeserved for this article. There’s little to disagree with here. Bush and the GOP spent and drove up the debt like drunken sailors. Then Obama, Reid, Pelosi and the dems drove up the debt and spent like crazed meth addicts with a stack of stolen credit cards on black Friday. Krauthamer has it right and Joe is just telling it like it is. The old GOPers that we didn’t boot out of office in November are still in charge of the GOP side of tune aisle, unfortunately. And they just don’t get it.

Where you seem to disagree with Scarborough is when he mentioned tax cuts. But he is right ijn that Bush was wrong in believing he could cut taxes while INCREASING spending all while fighting two wars. Sure, cutting taxes is a good thing. Those who work and produce and especially those who employ pay far too much in taxes. We need to keep more of our own money. But at the same time government spending must be severely reduced and then reduced some more.

[EternalVigilance]

BTW, "pork" is the least of our financial problems.

Spending, no matter how you label it, is the problem. Primarily on things Congress has no lawful Constitutional power over in the first place.

[muawiyah]

I'm not your Congresscritter. I don't have to answer any of your questions.

You are still missing the big picture ~ OBAMA and his evil regime are in deep trouble and final realize it. Consequently none of us know how this will turn out.

[EternalVigilance]

You’re the one who made the inference that led to my question. But if you don’t want to back it up that’s your call, I guess.

And I’ve the big picture fully in view, thanks. It includes what the Republicans do as well as what the evil Dems do.