Some fun numbers

The GOP are the fiscally responsible ones, right?
WRONG!
Here are some fun numbers:

When St. Reagan took office in 1981, the national debt was 32.6% of GDP.
When he left office, it was 53.1% of GDP!
[Yep - in Ronnie's 8 years, he increased the debt by more than 20%, as % of GDP.]

When Bush I took office, the national debt was 53.1% of GDP.
When he left office, it was 66.2% of GDP!
[Yep - that stalwart fiscal conservative Geo. H.W. Bush increased the debt by 13% during his 4 years.]

When Clinton took office, the national debt was 66.2% of GDP.
When he left office, it was 57.4% of GDP!
[Yep - Clinton - the free-spending Democrat - reduced the national debt as % of GDP!]

When W took office, the national debt was 57.4% of GDP.
When he left?... 75.5% of GDP!!!

Dems - INFORM the voters about the myth of GOP 'fiscal responsibility'.
Show 'em numbers and graphs - they'll get it!

note: in fact, as % of GDP the national debt decreased from Truman thru LBJ - Great Society & all!
It ticked up again under Nixon and Ford.
Carter brought it down a tad.
Then came Reagan.
From Truman to Clinton, NOT ONE Democratic administration has increased the national debt (as % of GDP).
The Republicans? - Only Eisenhower reduced the debt for duration of his administration! It went down in Nixon's first term, then ticked up again under Nixon/Ford.
- Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and W ALL increased the debt!!!

Staying on message

2010 is fast approaching.
The Republicans are confident they'll win back the House, maybe the Senate.

Sad thing is, they could be right!
How? - Simply by staying on message:

ObamaCare
Obama's deficit
Obama's recession
Obama's wars

It's not that hard: blame Obama & the Dems for all the country's current ills.

The somewhat obvious solution - that I nevertheless feel compelled to mention just in case Dems might be paying attention:

STAY ON MESSAGE!

The message???

W and the GOP are the illness.
Dems are the cure.

Don't be afraid to REMIND the voters that W & his GOP enablers inherited a $230Bn budget surplus from that profligate tax-and-spend liberal Clinton.
W left office leaving a $240Bn budget deficit.

Who got us into two "wars without end"?
- W and his GOP enablers.

It took eight (8) years to dig this hole - it's gonna take a while to climb out...
BUT - if we give the shovel back to the GOP, they'll keep digging.

Dems are the cure? Yes! Specifically,

Health care is a human right.
We're cleaning up after W

W's wars
W's recession
W's deficit (does anyone remember W's tax cuts???)

Do not - repeat, do NOT - respond to GOP talking points! - not EVER!!! Rather, stay on message. Yes, it's boring, and you sound like a broken-record... BUT IT WORKS!

Whatever currently ails the country is W's fault - W and his GOP enablers.
Never let the electorate forget this one simple fact.
... in addition, to the extent that the patient is recovering, it's due to Democratic intervention & treatment!!!

W and the GOP are the illness.
Dems are the cure.

STAY ON MESSAGE!

Trade ya a Geithner for a Fisher!

Big Banks Should be Broken Up, Not 'Coddled': Fed's Fisher
Reuters
Published: Friday, 20 Nov 2009
Banks that are considered too large to fail should be dismantled rather than "coddled," Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Thursday.
...
Fisher suggested the only way of ensuring that such financial giants do not pose recurrent problems is by making them smaller.

"This means finding ways not to live with 'em and getting on with developing the least disruptive way to have them divest those parts of the 'franchise,' such as proprietary trading, that place the deposit and lending function at risk and otherwise present conflicts of interest," Fisher said in prepared remarks to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

How come Geithner isn't saying anything like this?

The suggestion that "too big to fail" = "too big to exist" is being heard more frequently of late, and from respectable people - not just nut-jobs like me.

I remind loyal readers that you just may have heard this suggestion here first!... back in February!!!

What if Dems acted more like the GOP?

From TPM:

Here It Comes
Straight from House Minority Leader John Boehner's office:
"Sen. Reid's Government-Run Health Plan Requires a Monthly Abortion Fee"

AND

We Are All Jihadists!
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): Republicans are about to launch a "holy war" to derail health care reform.

My question: what if Dems responded in kind?

Something along the lines of,

GOP aligns with terrorists, declares jihad on America

... maybe in a press-release issued by Majority Leader Reid.

Or they could just make stuff up - like Boehner does:

Republican healthcare plan mandates sterilization for immigrant teens!

But, no.

What the Dems will do instead is embark on pointless efforts to respond to GOP charges! - Basically this 'tactic' (such as it is) puts the GOP in the driver's seat. LBJ was a master of this:

[paraphrased]In one of his early Congressional campaigns, LBJ is said to have advised his campaign manager to accuse his opponent of having carnal knowledge of his pigs.

"You want me call him a pig-fucker?", the aide queried.

To which LBJ replied, "Make him deny it!"

If Dems insist on replying to every Republican calumny, they have effectively lost the debate.

Local note: in the 2006 NM-1 Congressional race, challenger (Dem) Patricia Madrid fell into this trap repeatedly, effectively putting incumbent (Rep) Heather Wilson in charge of Madrid's campaign. Every time Wilson took a swing at Madrid, Madrid stood up to it and took it on the jaw! It was then - and is now - a ridiculous and fruitless debating technique.

Again?... and so soon!

From AmericaBlog:

Fox News displays old campaign footage to claim Palin is getting ‘huge crowds’ at her book signings

Wasn't Sean Hannity called out by Jon Stewart just last week for using archival footage of the "9/12" event to suggest that the Reactionary Republican Rally on 5 Nov generated HUGE crowds?

What - Fox figured no one would pay attention this time?
... of course, I'm sure it was an "inadvertent" mistake.

Exactly what evidence can Fox News present to argue that they're a real news channel - not simply a PR branch of the GOP??? I know they claim to be a real news channel - but can they present any evidence to justify the claim?

Update: From TPM

Fox Apologizes -- Again -- For Using The Wrong Footage
...
"We mistakenly aired what's called file tape of Sarah Palin. We didn't mean to mislead anybody in that tease. It was a mistake, and for that we apologize," said a host of [Fox's]Happening Now.

Well, no - they didn't claim it was 'inadvertent' this time!

p.s. I'll repeat my free advice for Fox News: if in fact it was simply a mistake to merge year-old video with current, you might want to adopt a better filing system!

Oh, good - I'm not alone

From HuffPost:

Rep. DeFazio: Fire 'Timmy' Geithner

Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
19 Nov 2009
Rep. Peter DeFazio called for the firing of President Barack Obama's top two economic aides on Wednesday, accusing them of pursuing a recovery plan skewed too heavily in Wall Street's favor.
...
Asked specifically whether Geithner should stay in his job, DeFazio replied: "No.
...
DeFazio said that there is a growing consensus among the Congressional Progressive Caucus that Geithner needs to be removed. He added that some lawmakers were "considering questions regarding him and other economic advisers" -- though a petition calling for the Treasury Secretary's removal had not been drafted, he said.

"[Obama] is being failed by his economic team," DeFazio concluded. "We may have to sacrifice just two more jobs to get millions back for Americans."

I think I'll send DeFazio's re-election campaign some $$$.

Why?

Obama says talks under way on Iran sanctions

For what it's worth: Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty... and has more-or-less adhered to the provisions of the treaty.

India is NOT a signatory. We've GIVEN India nuclear technology.

Pakistan - our best bud in south-central Asia - is NOT a signatory... and there's evidence they've provided nuclear technology to other so-called "rogue" states. We've got sort-of-good relations with Pakistan.

Why are we so obsessed with Iran?
Our obsession makes 'em stronger!... specifically, our obsession makes Ahmadinejad and his ilk stronger.
Why don't we try something different?

A gentle reminder:

A popular definition of insanity:

Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.

[note: this has been attributed to Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, and a few others... If anyone knows the true source, I'd like to hear!]

I can't guarantee that ignoring Iran would make the Ayatollahs any more reasonable, but why not give it a try? - What we've doing for the past 30 years - sanctions coupled with acrimonious rhetoric - hasn't been working all that well!

Maybe it's time to try something different.

A bit of Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

What I really have in mind is

Rage, rage against the noisy babble of morons and Luddites

[Just for fun: Google the phrase, "morons and Luddites".]