Originally posted by mark:
Pennsylvania Jim, I love you man, I really do and I love reading your posts, but the last one is ridiculous. President Bush has not moved the country farther left. You honestly think putting John Kerry in office will slow the anti-Christian movement of the United States?
I think one of the things Jim is referring to is the
non-defense spending of Bush which is anything but conservative:
There was an average annual growth rate of 2.4% during Clinton's eight years, compared to an average of 11.8% during Bush's first three. Someone forgot to tell President Bush the numbers though, because in his Feb. 8 interview the President erred in this exchange:
Russert: But your base conservatives -- and listen to Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, CATO Institute, they're all saying you are the biggest spender in American history.
President Bush: Well, they're wrong.
Russert: Mr. President
President Bush: If you look at the appropriations bills that were passed under my watch, in the last year of President Clinton, discretionary spending was up 15 percent, and ours have steadily declined.
As Clinton's budget surpluses have turned to deficits, Bush has come under criticism from all sides, liberals complaining about tax cuts and, conservatives complaining about spending.
A Cato Institute analyst wrote Jan. 23 calling the increase "The Republican Spending Explosion,” and said discretionary spending increases signed by Bush -- once adjusted for inflation -- "are 3 of the 10 biggest annual increases in the last 40 years.”
A Heritage Foundation analyst wrote that "spending has increased twice as fast under President Bush as it did under President Clinton," and attributed the spending surge less to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 than to a lack of "self-discipline required to balance fiscal priorities."
