“Those Days Are Gone”

by digby

I am getting so tired of Republicans screwing things up so that the Democrats have to come in and clean up their messes. Tonight, I watched what could have been a vintage 1992 60 Minutes story about how the deficit is going to bankrupt the country unless somebody does something right now — which immediately translates into a story that insists we must radically scale back all spending and entitlement programs (except the military, of course) because it would be immoral to pass these bills on to our grandchildren.

And yet, in this vintage deficit fear mongering story, there is virtually no discussion of why we are in this situation. Here’s what they said:

He calls it a fiscal wake up tour, and he is telling civic groups, university forums and newspaper editorial boards that the U.S. has spent, promised, and borrowed itself into such a deep hole it will be unable to climb out if it doesn’t act now. As Walker sees it, the survival of the republic is at stake.

“What’s going on right now is we’re spending more money than we make…we’re charging it to credit card…and expecting our grandchildren to pay for it. And that’s absolutely outrageous,” he told the editorial board of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

You have heard this before, from Ross Perot 15 years ago. You might have even thought the problem had been solved, when President Clinton announced, “Tonight, I come before you to announce that the federal deficit — will be simply zero.”

“Well, those days are gone. We’ve gone from surpluses to huge deficits and our long range situation is much worse,” Walker says.

That’s it? That’s all we’re going to hear about how this happened?

Excuse me, but where were he and 60 Minutes during the past six years when the Republicans blew a record surplus and dug us into a hole so deep he now says the republic is in danger?

Damn these people. Every single time these crooked Republicans get in power they line their pockets with taxpayer funded boondoggles and tax cuts for their rich supporters then start rending their garments over the looming fiscal catastrophe they created and demand the government stop spending on all those parasitic old people and children (whose “failure of citizenship” apparently dwarfs that of the corrupt thieves who stole the nation blind and threw buckets of money down the toilet in expensive failures like Iraq.) Oh, and raising taxes is completely unacceptable.

Republicans have proven once again that they are out of control children who completely trash the country’s fiscal integrity whenever they get a chance, requiring the Democrats to come in and do the painful things that are required to fix them. And every step of the way, they Republicans dog them with absurd “tax and spend” rhetoric.

It’s a great racket for the GOP but it’s long past time the nation put a stop to this insanity. It would be helpful if 60 Minutes at least put some of that in perspective when they get on the “responsibility” train and explain to the American people why this is. “Those days are gone” is not adequate.

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