Deficit Drop.
If there was any lingering doubt about George Bush’s legacy, it should have been shattered yesterday with the announcement that tax cuts have produced the economic growth that has slashed the budget deficit down from $423 billion to $296 billion. And presumably with more deficit reductions to come. Still the reactionary “fight `em on the beaches, fight `em in the hills, deny-deny-deny and never concede” New York Times is finding reason to worry. Indeed, in this Blog’s long memory there is only one comparison that rings true. That was the reactionary forces of ultra-conservatism in the 1930s which determinedly fought FDR every step of the way…fought Social Security, fought the Wagner Act…continued to fight him when he recognized that the forces of fascism and Nazism were threatening the world…hunkering down and insisting we build a moat to separate us from the rest of the world—forces, incidentally, that are aligned to fight this president including some of our paleo friends typified by the Know Nothing, Learn Nothing, Flat Earth Society spokesmen like Pat Buchanan, a sad spectacle who exists like a dead fly trapped in amber.
Read his magazine, The American Conservative and then the ultra-liberal, pathologically Bush-hating The Nation and you find precious little difference. There’s a kind of weirdness about the paleo right. Joe Sobran, once a kingpin at Bill Buckley’s National Review, was warned repeatedly about anti-Semitism. He kept slipping in sly asides until he was fired. Fired, he started his own column that is well-written (everything Joe writes is done well) but permeated on occasion with the same old stain. It’s all about oil. We’re in Iraq because the big oil companies need to be protected. He’s just a few steps away from Buchanan who seems to take pleasure in predicting every Bush rejection. The far-left and very far right are one in hating free trade (the gang that demonstrated in Seattle could very well be reading Sobran), hating any preemptive strike to keep terrorists from hitting us (they could easily endorse Buchanan for president). These are pathetic losers. The only thing that hurts about the far-right losers is that before they went nuts I knew and liked them all.
Another supposed “star” with the paleos was…I won’t mention his name…a guy who once wrote editorials for The Washington Times, a Ph.D who was warned by the Times about anti-Semitism, warned again and finally fired. The paleos regarded him as a martyr. He was regarded as a Deep Thinker, someone who at cocktail parties the far-righties would gather around to catch a few conversational pearls. What did he think about Bush? Oh, he was a scream. Nobody ever asked him…very strange…nobody ever asked him whether he believed in God. It turned out he didn’t. He died suddenly, under strange circumstances with some guy guarding the death bed—a guy nobody ever saw before and who nobody seemed to know. Buried on a hilltop in the deep South whose reverence he held because the South had slavery…his epitaph written in a teary column by Buchanan and others. Com’on. This guy was a conservative hero?
Don’t Mess With Mama?
Well, excuse me: Tugboat Annie still hasn’t elevated the gubernatorial debate. She’s not up to it. Her slogan, announced the day Giuliani came here to campaign for her, “Don’t mess with Mama”—what’s that supposed to mean?
Thank you for all this, Bill.
She couldn’t have done it without you.
Let me help you, Tom--yes, you did endorse Bill Brady for Governor at the Conservative Summit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is kind of odd. But she is one of those rare people in politics that have personality. Leave "Mama T" alone!
ReplyDeleteHave you fallen out with the Rockford Institute?
ReplyDeleteWhat the deficit has to do with "paleo cons" who want tax AND spending cuts.
ReplyDeleteYou think the neo cons who wanted Harriet Myers as Supreme Court justicve care about conservative social issues like abortion?
Do you think Bush's top homosexual advisors Karl Rove and Ken Melhman who work to defeat pro life Republicans like Pat Toomey (supporting Arlen Pro Abortion Specter) care about social issues like abortion or gay marriage? These are the same people who back Bob Kjellander and Judy Baar Topika. These are the same people that wanted to import 66 million illegal aliens through 2020 via Bush's amnesty bill before conservatives, real Christian conservatives, exposed the Bush / Fox scheme.
If one sleeps with the dogs they are bound to get fleas. Maybe that constant itching has made you so onery.
"If there was any lingering doubt about George Bush’s legacy, it should have been shattered yesterday with the announcement that tax cuts have produced the economic growth that has slashed the budget deficit down from $423 billion to $296 billion."
ReplyDeleteTom - you're celebrating a $300 billion (billion!) deficit for crying out loud. The man was handed surpluses! The Medicare drug benefit hasn't even kicked in yet, and we've spent $300+ billion on a losing war in Iraq that is considered off budget.
"And presumably with more deficit reductions to come."
What on earth, based on this president's and this Congress's history would convince you to make an out-of-control wild assumption like that? They cannot control their spending.
"Read his magazine, The American Conservative and then the ultra-liberal, pathologically Bush-hating The Nation and you find precious little difference."
You'll find a lot of difference, Tom. You are blinded by your love for Bush's cult of personality.
http://www.amconmag.com/
"There’s a kind of weirdness about the paleo right. Joe Sobran, once a kingpin at Bill Buckley’s National Review, was warned repeatedly about anti-Semitism. He kept slipping in sly asides until he was fired. Fired, he started his own column that is well-written (everything Joe writes is done well) but permeated on occasion with the same old stain."
ReplyDeleteTom - Mel Gibson was accused of "anti-Semitism". Every Pope is accused of "anti-Semitism". The Gospels themselves are accused of "anti-Semitism". Funny how no one ever defines the charge. The accusation is made and it is up to the accused to prove himself innocent of something that is never defined. Please, Tom, tell us what "anti-Semitism" is. Is it OK to acknowledge that the United States and Israel are two different countries or is this "anti-Semitism"? Does belief in the Gospels make one "anti-Semitic"? Is the Christian Church at it's roots "anti-Semitic"?
So you're siding with Israel over America and rabidly following a guy who wants to import the 60+% of Mexicans who say they would immigrate here given the chance? At this point, dual loyalty might be a step in the right direction.
"It’s all about oil. We’re in Iraq because the big oil companies need to be protected."
You haven't read Sobran in years, have you? This much is obvious. He hasn't mentioned oil companies. Here's a link to his archives. Where does he say, anywhere, that we're in Iraq for oil? Where, Tom? Do you have any idea, whatsoever, what you are writing about? Better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
http://www.sobran.com/columns/archive.shtml
"He’s just a few steps away from Buchanan who seems to take pleasure in predicting every Bush rejection."
ReplyDeleteSo, you were rooting Harriet Miers on I take it? Good to know for future reference. It's nice to know who we are dealing with. Are we supposed to cheer 2.7 trillion dollar budgets? Since when has that been "conservative"? Are we supposed to cheer amnesty for illegals? I thought you want to fight the terrorists. This is how you respond? With blind loyalty to a guy who throws our borders wide open? We're supposed to celebrate $300 billion highway bills? We're supposed to celebrate losing a war of choice?
What are we supposed to do Tom? Join you and the neocons in being reduced to celebrating the death of a single insurgent and pretending that single death is swinging the war in our direction? Have you taken leave of your senses?
If this were Bill Clinton you'd be all over him.
"These are pathetic losers."
You are an Illinois Republican and you talk about "pathetic losers"? You follow a guy who makes Bill Clinton look conservative by comparison and you talk about "pathetic losers"?
"Another supposed “star” with the paleos was…I won’t mention his name…a guy who once wrote editorials for The Washington Times, a Ph.D who was warned by the Times about anti-Semitism, warned again and finally fired. "
Tom - if Francis getting fired from the Washington Times makes him a "pathetic loser", what does that make someone who no longer writes his Saturday column for the Chicago Sun-Times and got bumped from his regular WLS gig?
I certainly hope people aren't dancing on your grave when you go to meet your maker the way you dance on Sam's grave.
A final aside, Tom. If small government conservatives like Buchanan and Sobran and the boys are "pathetic losers" for not following down your path, what does that make you who keeps backing these Republicans who give us bigger and bigger and bigger government and every time you think you're about to kick a field goal they take the ball away? Maybe you win an election here and there but you look insane or a fool for continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
ReplyDeleteAnd feign alarm at pretended state "train wrecks"? Why celebrate Bush's $300 billion deficits and berate someone like Topinka for predicted transgressions?
ReplyDeleteUnder our federal system, should it not be the reverse? Yes, it should.
Bush's bad federal policies will be difficult to overturn ("K" Street, Abramoff, etc.), and escaping jurisdiction means getting a passport and becoming an ex-patriot.
Abuses of power and bad policies are much more easily remedied at the state level, and if not, relief is as close as the nearest state line.
So be more alarmist at federal abuses, and support someone for the governor's office who would veto Emil's bad legislation, like Judy. Otherwise, Blago will sign and let him have his way.
That's the way our system was designed to work.
Tom, I love your blog & read it 'most every day, but this was not good. I'm not as keen on Buchanan as I used to be, but it's not accurate to say he opposes any preemptive actions against terrorists.
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest using a narrower paintbrush for your next work?
You've got a picture of a guy who cheated on his wife at the tender young age of 45 had a 4 year extramarital affair that he referred to as a "youthful indiscretion" (at age 45?). "Com’on. This guy was a conservative hero?"
ReplyDeleteYou Wilsonite neocons are nothing if not hypocritical.