March 02, 2010 06:03 PM UTC

Mike Coffman admits Republican Party has not been fiscally responsible

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• by: GregKing

(zOMG! – promoted by Colorado Pols)

I attended a town hall meeting that Representative Mike Coffman held last Saturday in Evergreen.

I was impressed with the fact that this Republican whom I voted for in the last election is finally out talking to his constituents. I was further impressed when Mike Coffman let the audience know that he is deeply disappointed with the lack of fiscal responsibility shown by the Republican Party over the years; yes, he actually made this statement out loud – um, in front of a mostly Republican/Tea Party audience.

As a background for you newly minted “deficit hawks” educated by Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and the rest of the crew at Fox entertainment:

1. The most costly increase in Medicare expense for the American taxpayer was enacted through reconciliation by a Republican controlled congress in 2003.

2. The Bush tax cuts passed using reconciliation increased our deficit by $188 billion or so every year (2001: EGTRRA, 2002: JCWA & 2003: JGTRRA).

3. The national debt grew $5.6 trillion from 2002 to 2009 under the Bush administration (IMPORTANT NOTE: the money spent during Obama’s first year in office was submitted by Bush and approved by congress in 2008 – so quit blaming Obama for the previous administrations’ spending – Obama will be spending enough on his own this year and doesn’t really need extra credit for spending by someone else thank you very much.

4. Just a reminder that Dick Cheney defended deficit spending in 2002 by stating “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter”. So, Dick Cheney thinks all you people concerned about national debt have a screw loose – just sayin’

However, I agree with all you new “deficit hawks”: spending in this country is out of control. My only question is why weren’t you concerned about the deficit problem back in 2002 when Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was being fired by Dick Cheney for raising the alarm over the huge increase in national debt that the proposed Bush tax cuts were going to cause?

Why weren’t you “fiscally responsible conservatives” concerned when the national debt increased by $2.2 trillion dollars between 2001 and 2007? Why was national debt not on Beck or Hannity’s radar then?

Where were you “tax patriots” when US comptroller David Walker resigned his position February 2008 so he could travel the country warning Americans about the national debt crisis? I didn’t see any of you at the theaters in August 2008 watching the movie about our debt crisis entitled “I.O.U.S.A.”

I have talked to a lot of Democrats since 2008 that have seen the “I.O.U.S.A.”, but I just haven’t managed to stumble upon any Tea Party members, independents or Republicans yet that have seen the movie. I guess because back in 2008, a movie about the national debt problem was labeled as a left wing conspiracy theory that only liberal nut jobs would watch.

So, I’m suggesting that if you are going to suddenly start rallying over the national debt issue after years of blissful ignorance, please take a little time to understand the real issues on your own without the help of the entertainment geniuses at Fox.

I’m not happy about the national debt either, but please take some time to learn a little bit about how the government earns and spends money before you don a tri-cornered hat and start waving the Gadsden flag around.

Here’s a really valuable and easy-to-read book on the subject: “Where Does The Money Go?” by Bittle and Johnson.  A left wing liberal Democrat friend of mine actually talked me into reading the eye opening book in 2007 (a book based on fact and offering no opinions).

I’m really excited a lot of Tea Party members, Independents and Republicans have finally picked up the national deficit torch that the liberals have been carrying for 30 years.

So, turn off the cable TV misinformation frenzy for a few days (MSNBC, Fox, etc) and educate yourself the old fashioned way: read a book. Just please read a book with actual verifiable, peer reviewed sources of information.

The usual sources of information:

1. Surplus/Deficit & national debt figures obtained from Office of Management & Budget:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/…

Download “Table 1.1-Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-): 1789-2015”

Download “Table 7.1-Federal Debt at the End of Year: 1940-2015”

2. Bush tax cuts: http://www.taxfoundation.org/n…

3. Where does our money go: http://www.publicagenda.org/wh…

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