If you voted Republican in either of the last two presidential elections...

No shit. I think Kirk's been out to space for far too long. The Republicans have LONG since forfeited the right to claim that label. There's never been more fiscally irresponsible people in office than the Bush Administration and the congress controlled by Republicans for the first half of this decade.

And "reduce deficits"? Are you kidding me? Let's see, Reagan drove the deficit to stratospheric heights, Clinton then came in and cleaned it up, Bush then took over and drove it back to the stratosphere. So how is deficit reduction a Republican thing?

 

Man... you voted for Bush TWICE.

Damn. This feels like when it was becoming apparent OJ had killed two people.

I simply couldn't believe it.

 

Why? I've always been a Republican on here. You'd be hard-pressed to find me speaking out against Bush...I mean, I would, if I were educated about it. But it's not like I rant against him all the time and then you find out I voted for him.

 

My poll vote for McCain is more like a 60-40 lean.

 

I see McCain as competent. Plus, since he'd be working with a Dem Congress (most likely), maybe they can achieve a few things by compromise. A total Dem executive-legislative branch would make GOP spending look paltry by comparison.

That's why I expect the people on here who prefer divided government to vote for McCain.

 

If we were to have gridlock, I'd rather have a Dem president and a GOP Congress. Considering half of SCOTUS could keel over at any time.

 

Absolutely dead-on nails. Have said it, for years.

Was one of the best things about Clinton I.

SCOTUS is the most important thing about this election, long-term -- bar none.

 

Last I checked, history didn't begin in 1980. Or 1968, for that matter. In general, the theme of the Republican mantra has been less government in comparison to the Democrats.

And deficit aside, you have to admit the country was in a much better position economically after Reagan's administration than before. Unless you enjoyed double digit inflation and mortgage interest rates in the 12-15% range.

And not disputing any of your posts, but could someone point to a quick reference on historical US deficit levels? Wouldn't mind educating myself a bit (and validating what you've stated ).

 

What about the option that says...

"Democratic voter in Florida who was too retarded to understand a simple ballot so I voted for Pat Buchanan by mistake, or at least that's what the telemarketing group hired by Al Gore told me to say....."

 

I stand corrected.

It hasn't been true since Eisenhower.

As for the "much better position economically", please read Kevin Phillips's piece on bad money in the May Harper's, "Numbers Racket." Over the years we've changed the way in which our economic fitness is measured so drastically that it's now meaningless.

Do you really want a current measure of inflation, for example, that doesn't include food or gasoline? Because that's what you've got.

And here:

http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm

 

thanks, jgmacq. That's a fantastic graph. H and W the top two deficit creators at a combined $767 billion. Wow. let's hope we've seen the last Bush in the White House.

Technically, the Nixon administration did reduce the deficit, and then Ford came in and blew that all to hell.

 

Here's one quick reference: http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

There's a vast difference between the Republican "mantra" and what actually happens--I suggest you look at the facts and actions instead of their slogans.

The Bush administration has bloated the federal govt, expanded federal power, been INCREDIBLY wasteful, and driven up deficits. There's never been a more corrupt and pork-happy congress than the Republican version led by Tom Delay and his minions the first half of this decade. And the most fiscally responsible presidency in recent decades was clearly Clinton's.