What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them.

To relate this specifically to the debt-ceiling debate, we’re not raising the debt ceiling because of the new policies passed in the past two years. We’re raising the debt ceiling because of the accumulated effect of policies passed in recent decades, many of them under Republicans. It’s convenient for whichever side isn’t in power, or wasn’t recently in power, to blame the debt ceiling on the other party. But it isn’t true.

By Ezra Klein  |  01:00 PM ET, 07/25/2011

Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph – Ezra Klein – The Washington Post

[hat to John Fleck]

Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph: Cost of New Policies, Bush = $5T, Obama = $1.44T is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

This year’s poll of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts:

Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president [DUHbya – spit on the ground] has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce.

Bush was rated second from the bottom on “intelligence,” “foreign policy
accomplishments,” and “handling of U.S. economy.” [mjh: Good gawd, I pity the fool dumber than Duhbya.] …

President Reagan “dropped two places from 16th overall in 2002 to 18th today.” President Obama was ranked 15th. [mjh: IE, higher than Raygun.]

Think Progress » Presidential scholars: Bush is the worst president of the modern era, bottom five of all time.

Worst President EVER (IMO) is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." – Saruh Palin

A system that raises such an ignorant person to such prominence is downright stupid.

PS: I’m adding a new category under NADA (New American Dark Ages) called “Dump Saruh” (an homage to Dump Duhbya).

Saruh Palin on Healthcare is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

I expect this to be the last entry in the Dump Duhbya category, unless Republicans are crazy enough to nominate Sarah Failin’. In that case, for continuity, I’ll just put her in the same category. They are two peas in a pod.

A special Fuck You to Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, the twin Princes of Darkness. I’d pay the airfare to send them both to Abu Ghraib or Gitmo. And for an extra slippery bathmat for Grover Nordquist.

So long, Dumbass! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Our democracy is based on the principle of consent through compromise. When the pendulum swings too far left or right many unfavorable circumstances come to be. …

In our state most of the tax paying producers are on the right while most of our government social programs favor the left. … [mjh: I pay taxes, as do all my leftist friends. None of us receives corporate welfare.]

In past years we could count on an unbiased, balanced news media to step in and energize the public to force fairness in government! Now the media cannot be trusted to exercise their constitutional mandates because a majority of their members have chosen partisanship over honesty.
        Don Spiers
        Los Lunas

ABQJOURNAL BIZ: Letters

So, the media was trustworthy when it was bullied liked the rest of the nation by the Texas Tyrant? You’ve still got FOX, Donny, and Lush Limbaugh, ad nauseum.

This Week’s WTF!? is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

peace,
mjh

Republican Class of 2004 is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

see the youtube video

Duhbya Salutes America is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

It isn’t often that public outrage peaks so close to an election, but this is a rare moment in history when "we the people" can exact a price from the political leadership that has duped, scammed and lied to them, contributing mightily to the current financial mess. …

If the public wants real reform, it will penalize the people and the party that failed to provide it. Voters can do more than "throw the bums out." …

Amen, Cal Thomas. Let’s throw out the bastards who have dominated the political scene since 1980. Let’s get those bums who ran everything from 1980 to 1992, returned to power in 1994, and then, following a squeaker in 2004, declared a mighty mandate and a generation of GOP rule to come. Oh, but let’s see who Cal wants to replace the bums with:

They can throw these bums out and replace them with freshmen Republicans who will take office with a reformer’s zeal and rebuild the government’s financial house before the Potomac fever virus infects them. With John McCain and Sarah Palin already committed to reform (as opposed to Barack Obama’s nonspecific "change"), the combination of a new Republican administration and a Republican Congress that has been chastened by its defeat in the 2006 election and imbued with a new zeal to change the way Washington works, could produce a revolution that would have made our Founders proud. …

While Republicans could have done much more when they held a congressional majority under a Republican president, they now swear they have learned their lesson. With the public engaged as never before, even Republicans wouldn’t be able to get away with business as usual this time.

Let the revolution begin! Judgment Day should come on Nov. 4.

Cal Thomas

So, Cal’s argument is: (1) the Democrats are the bums and (2) Republicans will fix things before they are re-corrupted and (3) even if you don’t trust Republicans, they’ll be on good behavior if you watch them closely. Ignore 1994. Ignore every year from 2000 to 2006.

Today, I heard a McCain supporter opine that Democrats want to do everything themselves and it takes someone like McCain to work with both sides of the partisan divide. A divide continually enlarged by Republicans strategists, culture warriors and leaders. Well, in the face of the economic crisis, Dems are working with Republicans. We all know from experience, Republicans were not so generous in their heyday. Recall Tom “The Hammer” DeLay and his ilk. We’ve been throwing the bums out for 2 years and have one more big push. Good riddance. peace, mjh

The New Republicans Will Fix Things The Old Republicans Couldn’t — yeah, right is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Over on the Wonk Room, Matt Duss recalls this line from Osama bin Laden’s surprise late-October 2004 videotaped address:

And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the Mujahedin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan with Allah’s permission… And it all shows that the real loser is… you. It’s the American people and their economy.

The CIA judged that Bin Laden’s videotaped message was an effort by al Qaeda to deliver four more years for President Bush, thus helping them recruit a new generation of terrorists.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/25/bin-laden-bleed/

Mission Accomplished is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

For more in this vein, see http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/category/nada/dump-duhbya/ and http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/category/election/

peace,
mjh

From the Archives is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh