RAG Perspective: An American Pro-Liberty Conservative: Miscellany: 2/25/10

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Miscellany: 2/25/10

The Blair House Project

This production by the White House ~~Propaganda~~ New Media office focuses on the legend of the elusive Bipartisan Health Care Compromise, where conservative ideas have been found dead on arrival although there is documentary evidence that relevant Congressional bills have been filed... This film has been rated 'R' (parents don't want their children to know that the costs of the Democratic Party Health Care Bill are going to have to be paid off by the new generations).

Beck's GOP and McCain Bashing

The popular conservative/libertarian TV/radio host Glenn Beck last weekend was the keynote speaker at CPAC. To those whom are familiar with Beck's FNC commentary show, he did his usual critical review of the history of American progressivism. But then he worked some bizarre elements into his speech, including the topic of Tiger Woods, writing on a blackboard, his own past alcoholism--and then launches in a full blown attack on the GOP:

I have not heard people in the Republican Party yet admit that they have a problem. And when they do say they have a problem I don’t know if I believe them. I haven’t seen the come-to-Jesus moment of the Republican Party yet... I don’t know what they even stand for any more. And they’ve got to recognize that they have a problem. Hello! My name is the Republican Party and I’ve got a problem. I’m addicted to spending and big government.

I disagree with the way, especially between 2002-2006, that the GOP Congress seemed to lose its way, including its massive reorganization and expansion of homeland security, sharply higher domestic social spending, the nature of budgeting for the Afghanistan/Iraq war/occupation, its not properly funding the new Medicare prescription drug entitlement, and President Bush's reluctance to use his veto authority. But Beck's attempt to brush the GOP and the Democrats as equivalent in fault when it comes to fiscal conservativism is misleading and wrong:

In 1993, the Congressional Budget Office projected the federal budget deficit would hit $361 billion in 1998; however, Gingrich and the Republicans succeeded in forcing Clinton to balance the budget that year due to their change in fiscal policy.

Clinton and the Democrats had to be dragged along to balance the budget because they fought against it every step of the way, former Gingrich press secretary Tony Blankley said.

This was exemplified by Bill Clinton’s decision to shutdown the federal government in 1995 in response to Republican plans to cut $57 billion from the federal budget compared with the prior year.

Under the [most recent] budget proposal put forward by House Republicans, spending as a percent of GDP is 20.7% of GDP in 2015, and in 10 years is at 20.7% of GDP [the historical mean is 20%]
The House Republican budget called for $36.913 trillion in spending over 10 years, whereas CBO estimated in March that the President’s budget would spend $41.726 trillion over 10 years. This is a difference of $4.813 trillion over a 10 year period.
Debt held by the public is set to rise from $5.803 trillion in FY2008 to $16.027 trillion in FY2019, which is 2.76 times larger.

In fact, let's review deficit numbers by party in control, from the GOP win in 1994 for its first fiscal year start in control (FY1996) through its last fiscal year start in control (FY2007) (based on a White House OMB spreadsheet ):

Finally, I'm getting tired of Beck's constant bashing of John McCain and the fact that McCain mentions Teddy Roosevelt as ONE of his heroes (let's pretend that Beck doesn't realize that much of McCain's admiration stems from Roosevelt's Rough Rider background and the his tilt towards progressivism emerged near the end of his Presidency and that McCain also admires Lincoln and Reagan).

Beck also classifies McCain as a "progressive Republican". This is patently absurd; Beck confuses a populist streak with progressivism. Let's note, for instance, that liberal Republicans Specter, Collins, and Snowe voted for last year's $787B Democratic Party Stimulus Bill and yesterday's $15B Democratic Party Jobs Bill, and John McCain did not. [Specter changed parties after the stimulus vote.] They also have ACU lifetime ratings in the mid-40's while McCain is in the lower 80's, even with his bipartisan efforts. Even influential media conservative Mark Levin, not a McCain, took offense at Beck's suggestion in a Couric interview that McCain would have been a worse President than Obama and that Beck might have voted for Hillary Clinton over McCain. (Let's give Beck the benefit of a doubt that Beck never checked Clinton's voting record, which is overwhelmingly progressive--with maybe one vote out of 10 in favor of a conservative position, according to the ACU.)

Quote of the Day

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. - Theodore Hesburgh

Political Cartoon

IBD cartoonist Michael Ramirez doesn't say this, but if you look at the odometer on this Government Motors car, you'll see a national debt odometer, which doesn't stop even when the job engine stalls out.... And of course when they try to start the car back up, they'll flood the engine, and it still won't turn over.