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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJake Tapper BUSTS Dick Cheney on His ‘DEFICITS DON'T MATTER’ Comment
The Art Of Stacking Sh*t Ten Feet High...........
Jake Tapper has gone rogue since moving to CNN. He busted the Benghazi email lies this summer and today his interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney was aired, in which he challenged Cheney on his deficits dont matter comment. Cheney told former Treasury Secretary Paul ONeill that (Ronald) Reagan proved that deficits dont matter. Tapper wondered how Cheney squared that with deficit concerns now. Cheney responded to Tappers question by saying that the Bush administration was running surpluses at the time. From CNN:
Cheney said at the time he made that comment about the former President, the administration was running surpluses, and they were trying to determine whether they could like Reagan run a deficit in order to build up military capability.
Im not opposed, under certain circumstances, to running deficits, said Cheney.
The debt is another problem. And weve gotten to the point now, where especially because of entitlement programs, but because there really hasnt been much done by way of trying to restrain spending, when we have, you know, trillion-dollar deficits every year, said Cheney.
Hmmm. Thats a lot of not true. Tapper stepped up with some reality. He pointed out that economists look at the data and in addition to entitlements, they blame things that happened under Bush and Cheney for the deficit, such as funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and tax cuts.
Cheney pooh-poohed that away because you see, it was necessary for our security (remember the days when anything was justified by invoking security but these days Republicans defund Libya and then investigate when it goes wrong). Cheney said, In terms of what we had to spend with respect to the aftermath of 9/11, setting up security systems, TSA, Homeland Security and so forth, we thought that was a necessary and legitimate expense. We did it because we believed it was important to do and, still do.
Or, deficits dont matter? Yes. Thats what hes trying to say.
Cheney wont take responsibility for the unfunded Medicare Part D he dumped that on Bush, and why shouldnt we believe that Dick Cheney wanted nothing to do with Medicare Part D. It helped people and as such is an entitlement program.
But how were the programs paid for? CNN wondered.
Cheney hemmed and hawed his away around but the bottom line is it was not paid for. He claimed they tried to pay for it but mean people would not let them take away Social Security, so, We were totally unsuccessful, Cheney admitted to Tapper.
Oh, a speck of truth. Cherish this moment people because it didnt last long. Cheney also claimed that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were paid for. The funds were appropriated.
Oh really?
http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/28/dick-cheney-on-latest-nsa-disclosure-you-never-know-what-youre-going-to-need-when-you-need-it/
David Leonhardt of the New York Times disagrees:
And the combination of the tax cuts, the war in Iraq, Medicare Part D and some other things meant that he essentially did not run the government as if it needed to make its payments over the long term. He ran it as if it was fine to have a huge deficit.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tentrillion/themes/bush.html
Clive Cook of the Financial Times (via PBS) added, But it had huge implications for deficits. Any fiscally responsible administration wouldve attended to that. And if you were going to cut taxes as much as they did, at the very least you wouldve tried very hard to squeeze down on the spending side, so the deficit didnt run out of control. And they failed to do that.
Make7
(8,543 posts)You doggone right
Bolo Boffin
(23,796 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Segami
(14,923 posts)Estimates come in at $3.7 trillion and counting for the wars, when factoring in the long-term costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed. Some estimates are as high as $4.4 trillion...."
Samantha
(9,314 posts)Jake Tapper did pretty well in his questioning, but I wish he would have asked if both wars were paid for why the need to keep 10.5 Trillion Dollars in debt off the general ledger....
Sam
spanone
(135,823 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,369 posts)He should have had his left pinky in the corner of his mouth when he said that.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)What an ass.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)we're seeing such a rash of LIARS on the teevee these days? Cheney, Rove, Greenspan, Cruz - resurrected vampires all.
tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)and then "TAH DAH!"
But I see him as the problem with the GOP: it's like watching a college football team use the same plays they used for 20 years, and can't figure out why they are getting the socks beat off 'em.
ffr
(22,669 posts)Yes, Cheney, thank you for crediting Bill Clinton with gifting your administration (GWB) $5.6T - $5.7T estimated surpluses had you done nothing to the tax code after Jan 20, 2001. Those were the CBO forecasts, that laid it out that the total public debt would be $0.00 by 2009, again, had you and GWB done nothing but sit in the WH on your thumbs. But instead, not only did we not see total public debt dwindle to $0.00, but instead, we find it landed at a whopping $10.6T in the red.
That's all you Cheney. That's all owned by the GOP, Republicans and your supposed fiscal conservatism. WHAT A JOKE you are. Then sit there all smug like speaking of the $ trillion deficits that concern you. Well, well, well. In fact, Obama may have the below $600 million this year, you phucking turd!
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)JHB
(37,158 posts)The only Bush year there was a surplus was 2001, and that only because his tax cuts hadn't taken effect yet. All seven other years were deficits, and big ones.
All he and his pals care about is cutting their own taxes and gutting anything that gets in their way, like programs that help ordinary people.