So… Rand Paul will not be the 2016 GOP Nominee….
… for he criticized St. Ronnie. And not only did he criticize St. Ronnie, but he compared him… UNFAVORABLY… to Jimmy Carter.
Mother Jones posted this video footage showing the Kentucky senator, in a serious of campaign speeches in 2007, 2008 and 2009, making repeated criticism of Ronald Reagan’s budgetary record.
“The deficit went through the roof under Reagan,” he said while stumping for his father, Ron Paul, at a campaign event in 2007.
“So how long did it take Ron Paul to figure out that the guy he had liked, endorsed, campaigned for, campaigned for him? The very first [Reagan] budget. Ron Paul voted ‘no’ against the very first Reagan budget… Everybody loved this ‘great’ budget. It was a $100 billion in debt. This was three times greater than Jimmy Carter’s worst deficit.”
LOL.
Next?
Rand Paul is a stopped watch.
Under Reagan, Republicans couldn’t cut Social Security or the safety net because Democrats were still an effective minority opposition, and kept the third rail fully charged and lethal. But after thirty years the Dem defense of the safety net was worn down; it has become lukewarm if not outright chilly, and plenty of Dems would be just fine if it were cut (see: Carper, Coons, Carney for starters). The stupid voters would be happy to see the lazy takers get it in the teeth – until their own check didn’t show up next month… and commodity business like Walmart dropped like a rock.
All this and we barely hear that the budget deficit is the lowest it’s been in six years. So when does the DNC start blowing that horn? Last time we saw a deficit come down was when Clinton was running the show. This fact should be hammered on nonstop from now until the November elections.
Yes, I know that projections are (by the same CBO that’s stating the above) that the deficit will rise drastically after next year BUT if things keep improving that may well not be the case. If we allow the GOP crystal ball of doom to be the horn that’s heard that’s what people will believe.
Things are looking up more than ever in so many ways now. Slow but sure gets us there and slows the economic cycle.
I could go on but I’ll end the rant now.
Under Reagan, Social Security saw its last major increase in the payroll taxes paid and that effort was signed off on by Stockman AND Greenspan. Reagan cut a great many taxes (the 70% rate was cut back to 28% during his term), but raised taxes because he had a tough time with the deficits. But the two biggest reasons that the Reagan deficits were so much larger than Carters was all of those tax cuts (with no spending cuts) AND the belligerent ramp up in defense spending that finally bankrupted the Soviets and damn near bankrupted us.
Paul isn’t too far from the truth here. What will be interesting is how intact St. Ronnie’s sainthood really is. I think that these wingnuts don’t care about anything other than what is on FOX today, so it will be interesting to see how much tarnish they’ll allow on Ronnie.
To add to TMVol’s point about the declining deficit under the current administration, private employment is at historic highs while public sector employment that is universally reviled by the baggers has declined!