The health care debate is Exhibit A of their hypocrisy.
The very people who voted for every single one of George Bush's budgets, who also thought it would be perfectly fine, if not sane, to wage two ongoing endless wars without the funds to pay for it, who couldn't vote quick enough for Bush's Medicare/Part D and who slashed $1 trillion of revenue from the federal budget, are now all of sudden worried about fiscal matters They truly are a sick lot.
The point of the matter is this: included in the Democratic bill to reform health care is a means to pay for it. It's right there in English for all the world to see. Not one single item ever of George Bush's ever included the means of funding to cover its cost. Not the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not Medicare/Part D, nothing about where the lost revenue would be made up from Bush's tax cuts, none of it ever contained language outlining how we would pay. But now that they aren't in power anymore, Republicans want everyone to believe once again that they truly care about fiscal responsibility. If they really want to know how it's going to be paid for, read the bill. Or better yet, just shut up.
*Update:
Astonishingly Fox News too has found a new concern for fiscal matters in Washington. Running all kinds of stories today on deficits and lawmakers who now also care about fiscal responsibility but the best is this one about Blue Dog Democrats.
The Blue Dogs are moderate to conservative Democrats who represent historically Republican turf. They advocate low taxes and restraint in government spending, and the Blue Dog Coalition is particularly spooked about the trillion dollar price tag of the president's health care proposal and a ballooning of the federal deficit by $236 billion. They dislike tax increases which would soak the rich and feel that Democratic leaders are racing to okay a bill by the August recess.But they all voted for the Bush agenda that created 8 solid years of budget deficits, reckless spending and tax cuts for the wealthy that doubled the national debt. That doesn't sound like supporting a "restraint in government spending" or being "spooked" by price tags and deficits does it? How can Fox News or anyone possibly claim Blue Dog Democrats are fiscally responsible/conservative or even care about deficits? Yes, Democrats are to blame as well. Yet in the Republican Fantasy World these Democrats get a pass from the last 8 years of total fiscal irresponsibility.
Let's get this straight. Vote in unison with George Bush, double the national debt, run 8 consecutive budget deficits, turn the largest surplus in history into the largest deficit in history and you get labeled as being a fiscal conservative the believes in "restraint on government spending" with concerns about deficits. Make any sense?
**Update:
In another sign of the return of fiscal conservatism Kent at Right From Left, is worried too about federal spending. What's got him so concerned is the national debt. Going through his archives I can't find a single time or even a smidgen of a sentence expressing the least bit of concern for when George Bush more than doubled the national debt. It's almost as if he never cared once about fiscal matters then. Even in this post he calls the Bush administration merely "wasteful." I'd have to say 8 solid years of budget deficits, more than doubling the national debt and turning the largest surplus in history into the largest deficit in history is slightly more than "wasteful." But hey it's good to see Kent has once again returned to his "true core principles."
Oh, I almost forgot. Kent already stated that he's not a fiscal conservative. That would indeed mean his new found concern for fiscal matters is entirely au courant.
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