VA GOP Candidate Praises Bush: I Want His Economic Record

The legacy of George W. Bush has weighed heavily on the Republican Party, casting a large shadow over GOP candidates in the past two national elections.

But is that toxicity beginning to wane? For the first time in recent memory, a Republican candidate is actively embracing the tenure of George W. Bush, citing the economic growth up through 2006 as a template of governance he'd like to pursue.

On Saturday, former Virginia Attorney General and current gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell delivered the following remarks at the Boys State Convention in Lynchburg, Virginia.

"President Bush put in a ten-year tax-cut on everything from the death tax to capital gains tax and it was followed by an unprecedented period of economic recovery and economic growth," he said. "In fact, it almost overheated the economy through about 2006. So, I think that's the way you stimulate business. And that's the kind of governor that I'm going to be to reduce those impediments to entrepreneurship, to let small businesses grow and thrive and create some opportunity."

To be fair, it is hard to draw a larger trend from one snippet of one speech of one candidate for what is still considered a Republican state (though increasingly a political toss-up). Additionally, McDonnell has praised Bush in the past. But as the economic environment becomes increasingly owned by the Obama administration it will be curious to see not just how frequently Republicans whack the president on this front, but how willing they are to tie themselves to the early Bush years. Will McDonnell be the exception or the norm?

Comments

[George Whizz]

I want Cheney's shotgun aim

[scottymac11]

How much money does this guy have?
At a certain level of wealth I'm sure some simply loved the last administration.
If he wanted to ride those past years out like the average American it's easy to do. Just reduce your income and savings to a less than livable level. Then give that excess cash to those who are hundreds of times wealthier than you. Cheney can give you the step by step procedure.

[berryessence]

WELL HE'S LOSER!

Now all his opponent needs to do is run that in a loop for 30 seconds each day

[GLT21]

Do all VA GOPers took a day off while God was handing out brains.

[batman8507]

You know, it would be nice if people actually thought about what they were going to say before they actually say it. It would be even better if people thought things through before coming to a conclusion.

McDonnell: I want to do everything Bush did up until 2006 for the economy. It was a tremendous growth period & was all done with tax cuts.

Reporter: Um, what about what happened after 2006, & where we are now?

McDonnell: Well, uh, we'll worry about that later.

[BillMelater]

I want Clinton's economic record.

[Gidster]

I want Eisenhowers economic record if we are getting to choose!

[cuchulain]

Take a look at LBJ's record. Looks like the best of the bunch.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/01/23/business/20090124_CHARTS_GRAPHIC.html

[Darcman]

This is the strategy I knew the Republicans would use! Use the average Americans lack of longterm memory to there advantage! Pretend Bush wasn't a disaster and that the current economic crisis didn't exist until the day Obama was sworn in.

[ladyvader]

I think this guy needs to research more on Bush and his failed corporate record. It mirrors what happened to this country when he was President.

Here is a good page I just found.
http://alaric3rh.home.sprynet.com/science/bceo.html

[take10]

If you didn't believe they are nuts before, now you have no excuse!

[tel8034]

So Bob McDonnell wants to follow the same Bushonomics which left the financial industry to "police" themselves and to the came Bushonomics which collapsed the global economy, and he thinks that promise will attract votes to his campaign?

[Gidster]

Here is an excellent indicator of Bush's ACTUAL economic indicator!

09/30/2008 10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007 9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006 8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86

The National debt!

Remember that the economic growth was all based on artificially inflated real estate markets, and the bundled diversities, and insane financial instruments that defied reason!

But hey, they made 1% of Americans filthy rich, at the expense of the other 99%!

[llmitchellb]

Ohhhhhh let them keep going. We need those ludacris statements to keep on coming! Thank you Bob McDonnell!

[confuseddemocrat]

simple logic...VA has term limits (1) . So it will take him 4 years to totally wreck VA's economy and raid the treasury like Bushies and then he is out....no repercussions for him politically unless he seeks national office

[LiberalBuzz]

Oh yeah THAT'S a GREAT way to instill confidence in voters.

I am sure they will take that into account when they vote for his opponent.

[SethBLiNK]

Rarely is a candidate that honest. Virginia voters should thank him for the warning.

[pfrogger]

good point.
now when the VA voters vote, they can make an informed decision.

[nellie]

LOL, brilliant!

[CarmanK]

Ammunition for his opponent. The people of VA should run for the hills. This guy is nuts and the best the republicans can come up with to run for governor.