The Great Republican Contradiction

Each day at matins, Republicans chant a near-religious mantra against the Obama Administration's stimulus efforts: government spending bad. But there is a significant, overlooked problem for them with this.

Never mind, of course, that while they want tax cuts instead, it's Bush tax cuts that helped get us into this Bush recession. And never mind, too, that Republicans, when in charge, aggressively spend enough to dig a trillion dollar deficit.

Never mind all that.

The problem for Republican cries against stimulus spending is its contradiction of one of the most cherished of G.O.P. Talking Points.

On the one hand, we have Republicans complaining that government spending doesn't stimulate the economy during a recession.

On the other hand, Republicans insist (erroneously) that America only got out of the Great Depression because of World War II - not President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies.

In case you missed it, here's the contradictory problem for them:

Republicans are arguing that the building of airplanes, the creation of ships, munitions, equipment, the acquisition of provisions, troop training - all "government spending" - indeed, massive spending - is what pulled America from the Depression.

(Contrary to popular belief, battleships and jet bombers do not just spontaneously generate themselves. No, really!)

Of course, that also brings us back to the erroneous argument in the first place. Several months back on ABC's "This Week," George Will attempted to use the "Roosevelt spending didn't turn around the Depression" Gambit. However, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman was on the same panel, and he lectured a silent Will how New Deal programs actually did improve the economy, and it was only when Roosevelt acquiesced to Republicans...and stopped spending and instead cut taxes...that the 1937 recession occurred. When FDR returned to spending, and later World War II began, only then did the U.S. economy grow again and solidify.

So, in both cases, it's a no-win argument against government spending. It's just that the argument Republicans have been trying to use is the contradictory one.

That's become the pattern for the G.O.P.: trying to block the new administration by attempting to justify their Bush-era actions - and contradicting themselves in the process. Hoping no one will notice.

Like a week ago last Sunday, there was former Vice President Dick Cheney on CNN, interviewed by John King. Twisting himself into his own contradiction.

(Why CNN felt compelled to have Mr. Cheney on is a mystery. With his approval rating around the level of poison mushrooms, the network couldn't possibly think anyone rational would care to hear from him so soon, or...well, ever. But I digress.)

Mr. Cheney was asked about coming into office with a budget surplus of $128 billion and leaving with a record deficit of $1.3 trillion. His response was breathtaking in its cruel disdain and - disingenuous contradictions.

"Eight months after we arrived, we had 9/11. We had 3,000 Americans killed one morning by al Qaeda terrorists here in the United States. We immediately had to go into the wartime mode. We ended up with two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of that is still very active. We had major problems with respect to things like Katrina, for example. All of these things required us to spend money that we had not originally planned to spend, or weren't originally part of the budget. Stuff happens."

There you have it. Stuff happens.

We had two wars, and so the economy crumbled. Stuff happens. Except that - the Republican argument about FDR is that he also had two wars, in Europe against Germany and against Japan in the Pacific...and that's what got us out of the Depression.

Go figure.

Hard to work your way out of that contradiction.

Moreover, blaming Katrina is equally contradictory (and more pathetic) - because the criticism of the Bush administration is that they didn't spend the money needed to address the disaster. You can't under-spend and claim that it was your unexpected spending that hurt you.

But of course, the biggest contradiction is when Dick Cheney contorts the starting point. What the Bush Administration had to deal with coming into office was a budget surplus. What FDR had to deal with upon taking office was..the Great Freaking Depression.

And Bush failed.

And FDR succeeded.

Stuff happens, Dick Cheney callously says. It makes the skin crawl. What cold-hearted, criminal arrogance. No one forced the Bush administration to falsify evidence for WMDs, ignore hurricane warnings and cut taxes during a war. They chose to do this. It's like holding a gun to someone's head, pulling the trigger and shrugging - "Stuff happens."

The next time some Republican mouthpiece tries to insist that up is down, and listen to us, we know how to get America out of the economic disaster our party caused, just know they are being contradictory. Again. You can tell because their lips are moving.

The Republican Party has become a party unable to find its moral center, so instead it's flailed away at all contradictory options, and hoped no one would notice. But as the founder of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, famously noted: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

And Americans have figured it out.

Comments

[realpolitic]

Excellent article! We must take Cheney's comments with a grain of salt! Remember when Cheney shot his friend in the face, it was his friend who apologized! I guess his face was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Republicans hold a sacred place in their hearts for military spending. If Obama proposed no entitlement spending, but put it all and even much more toward military spending, he would win over conservatives. If he doubled military spending and at the same time gave the wealthiest Americans an enormous tax break, conservatives would put Obama's face on Mt. Rushmore.

[RedneckDem]

Can you imagine the short circuiting of Cheneys brain if he was called on this? He would stammer and sputter out, just like all arguments put forth by the repubs.

This is some great info to debate with!!!

[TexasDem0]

All the moderate and semi-moderate people have fled the GOP. What's left are the hard core BushCo cheerleaders who by definition are unaffected by truth or logic.

Every day that BushCo criminals go unchallenged diminishes the character of the United States.

[Gidster]

Excellent article!

[lisakaz2]

Good job tracing the mental gymnastics there. The bottom line is the arrogance of these folks who want public money FOR THEM. That is, bailouts and corporate welfare for CEOs are good but monies for John Q Public are bad. They're jealous that the public trough is not still open for their continual feeding and how we're supposed to all be grateful for their fleecing of our treasury.

[Russycle]

"That's become the pattern for the G.O.P.: trying to block the new administration by attempting to justify their Bush-era actions - and contradicting themselves in the process. Hoping no one will notice."

Unfortunately, that seems to be working out fairly well for them. Our media is a disgrace.

[jbusch8]

great column, simply wonderful.

thank you

[Jamchinadian]

So the disembodied mouths on CNN and other tragi-comedy shows are pummelling Obama for chuckling - gallows humor as he puts it. But here is Cheney menacingly, snarlingly, growling that "stuff happens" in dismissing the evils of his time and the silence in response is deafening!

[scottellington]

Perhaps that government which governs best governs by example, rather than by exception, exemption and rhetorical chicanery.

If the overriding influence that counters the dictates of individual conscience says,

"Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

-- Barack Obama, Springfield, IL
February 10 ,2007

whose administration is left to argue against government spending?

[llisa]

"What the Bush Administration had to deal with coming into office was a budget surplus. What FDR had to deal with upon taking office was..the Great Freaking Depression.

And Bush failed.

And FDR succeeded."

I love it!

This alone should make them think twice before trying to compare Bush and FDR.

[Corbettpc]

Where were these Republicans when the Bush Administration was pouring out BILLIONS of dollars to Halliburton and KBR for shoddy work that actually electrocuted and poisoned (bad water and food) our American troops.

[LeftRight]

I think that you made one mistake:

"...and instead cut taxes...that the 1930 recession occurred. When FDR returned to spending..."

I think that you mean the 1937 recession, both because it was the Depression in 1930, and because FDR didn't get elected until 1932. There also wasn't a recession in a depression until the 1936 spending cuts caused the 1937 recession....

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Republican and conservative FAIL.