Brooks: GOP Spending Freeze Idea Is "Insane," Party Too Stuck On Reagan

New York Times columnist David Brooks said on Sunday that it was "insane" for Republicans in Congress, including every GOP member of the House, to support a spending freeze in the middle of a recession.

Tying such proposals to an intellectual simplicity exhibited by Rush Limbaugh, the conservative scribe also said the party was too obsessed with pursuing the legacy of Ronald Reagan in a drastically different time.

"The problem with them and the problem with Limbaugh in terms of intellectual philosophy is they are stuck with Reagan," Brooks said during an appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "They are stuck with the idea that government is always the problem. A lot of Republicans up in Capitol Hill right now are calling for a spending freeze in a middle of a recession/depression. That is insane. But they are thinking the way they thought in 1982, if we can only think that way again, that is just insane. And there are a lot of Republicans like David Frum ... who are trying to say Reagan was right for his era, but it is time to move on. And there are just not a lot of them on Capitol Hill right now, and I think the party is looking for that kind of Republican."

Watch:

Earlier in the week, House Minority Leader John Boehner urged President Barack Obama to work with Republicans to impose a spending freeze until the end of this fiscal year. Introduced as legislation, the measure failed when it came to a vote, with every Republican but only eight Democrats supporting its passage.

Comments

[JustSayMaybe]

A spending freeze for the next nine months? This seems like a deliberate attempt to cause the entire country to implode. It would not surprise me one iota if the Republicans were in cahoots with some foreign power that agreed that if Obama won, they'd provide an army of mercenaries to take back the country in a coup, then hand the reins over to Rush Limbaugh. That's my only guess, because there's no way any halfwit could truly think a spending freeze is a good idea right now. They should all be removed from office for being bewilderingly stupid.

[SurrealPumpkin]

How about a price freeze? That would make just as much sense.

[wolfmason]

I can sympathize with the principals of economic conservatism, but to propose a spending freeze in a recession is totally insane. Any time in history government contraction has occurred during a recession, the economy tanked. I can't even fathom the self-destructive mentality behind such a proposal. It's as if these people are so against the idea of supporting the Pres., that they're willing to jump off of a cliff and take the whole country with them just to prove that they're different.

[hollybork]

Thank God for David Brooks. He has his head screwed on straight. Too bad for the Republicans who neither read nor understood the economic history of the United States. They are the skeleto crew in a derelict party which is going down into the dustbin of disrepute. Conservatism has ceased being the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. It has abandoned conserving the earth, defending individual civil liberties, loving the expansion of populist democracy, and eroded into the party of Taft, Hoover and Reagan.

The cumulative effect of conservative fiscal policies, dismantling of the social safety net, excess liquidity, deregulation, laissez faire economics and militarism over the long term has been disastrous. We will be digging ourselves out of the economic hole for the next 15 years. But Reagan neverthess remains the avatar of the Republican party. I would dispute that Reagan had the economic "genius" to warrant this guru like treatment by the current crop of politicians. But they need a hero, and Reagan looks better as a statue on a pedestal than Ike, Nixon or George Bush I.

[SurrealPumpkin]

We would be much better off if the Republicans had decided to make Ike their hero. Ike has two huge clay feet as far as modern Republicans are concerned. He didn't lower taxes and he didn't trust the Military Industrial Complex.

[Bude]

The days of managing the economy by tweaking interest rates is long gone. I'm shocked that conservatives continue to compare this situation to the economy that Reagan inherited. There is no comparison. I wish there was, because this is so much worse. We are in uncharted waters, and we're taking in water. The sooner we all accept that fact, the better.

[Cinnamongyrl]

It's amazing that Republicans say that Democrats worship Obama and call him the Messiah. Yet, everytime i turn around they are worshipping at the feet of Regan. I love Obama but I don't think I worship him. I'll agree with him when I think he is right and disagree with him when I think he is wrong. Everytime I turn around repub. are talking about Reagan...R­eganomics.­..Regan the great communicator Reagandemocrats etc. Republicans were mad with Obama when he made a joke about Nancy Regan.

[Yarrr]

Until repubs get this ridiculous trickle-down voodoo out of their systems, they're never going to win another national election.

Rich people alone aren't going to get them elected.

[MsFeminist]

Yarr. The rich Republicans and their mouth pieces are in denial. Their ship is sinking and they are still acting like they can keep it afloat with even more trash talk.

Traitors who cry out for President's failure should take a deep breath and accept it. He won. We need him. Lead, follow or get out of the way.

[raker]

One of the Republican idiocies making the rounds is their contempt for our admiration of Obama. Some, like professional disgruntled former employee Bernard Goldberg are consumed by it, fatal attraction style. But they forget about their cultish crush on Ronald Reagan, and their enthusiasm for naming every little thing after the old nitwit.

[mamacat]

I lived through and paid attention during the Reagan years, and I truly believe that if he were alive and healthy today, he would tell the Republican Party that they have lost their way - not because they have abandoned the principles that he pushed, but because they are out of touch with reality, they know it, and they don't care.

Reagan tried to deal with reality as best he could, and he was capable of changing course when he thought he had made a mistake. Today's GOP is trying to rigidly follow a course that never really existed, and their only idea of a mistake is in not being right-wing enough.

[1differentdrummer]

They laud Reagan and emulate Hoover.

[hollybork]

Yes, agreed.

[PrincipiaChamp]

OMG...are people still worshipping Reagan and Reaganomics/Voodoo Economics?

Stop the madness America and listen to Brooks...or better yet, do some of your own homework and stop listening to Rush Limbaugh for crying out loud.

[collprof]

Obama has been in office, not counting today, 49 days. This is not Obama's recession.

GOP. They have no leader. Steele, a joke. Rush, a fat pill popping neo-con actor. Palin and Jindal? Impersonations of Tina Fey and Mr. Rogers.

Deregulation and greed created these toxic assets called high risk CDOs that mostly every country on earth bought ergo worldwide recession. Americans are scared. Until faith and solid clear action is brought to bear these is no economy.

[Wild West]

Reaganomics, what a pant load, cut taxes to help bring us the trickle-down economy, provided by the aristocracy. a destructive system of inequality and prejudice founded on deception that aristocracy are better people. Conservatives attempt to destroy rational thought and willfully put rational debate or rebuttal out of reach.

[kathy001]

"....founded on deception that aristocracy are better people."

So true. Well said!

[zigzag1]

Reagan was never right for this country.

[newmexicogold]

The wealthy who profited it from Reagan and the laws made after him, in his name, would disagree with you. But then, hey, that was only 20% of Americans.

[AtheistUS]

I'm not sure that 20% benefited from Reagan, if we count all profits and losses. May be top 1%, may be 3%. I don't think it may come to 5%, much less to 20%.

[Jezreel]

While I don't agree with David Brooks on all - or even most issues, in this case, his analysis is spot on. He and David Frum are taking a beating by Limbaugh's Conservative supporters, including the likes of John McCain who worship at the throne of Reganomics everday.

I even heard David Frum call out Rush Limbaugh for his racist rants against Mr. Obama and other African Americans. Frum said, and I agree, that Limbaugh's rhetoric probably had gotten under Michael Steele's skin too.

Unfortunately, Steele kow-towed to Limbaugh after trying to stand up to him and consequently damaged his credibility forever. Frum and Brooks refuse to "bend over for Rush. From my vantage point, that's a good thing.

[jazzycafe]

I just love it when a conservative columnist criticizes the republicans. Thank you for that, David Brooks.

[TXfemmom]

The Republicans got us into this mess and spent money like fools, took us to war on lies, and deregulated everything till greed doomed us.

[TexasDemocrat1974]

AMEN!!!! I agree with 100% You took the words right out of my mouth. Thank you.

[SteveDenver]

"spent money like fools, took us to war on lies"

That sums up the situation and why I can't listen to anything Republicans say about the economy.