YES! Bernie Sanders to GOP: Spare me the lectures on YOUR deficit

(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    I’ve got to hand it to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), he knocks it out of the park on this. Republicans with their phony deficit concerns want to put the blame of their failed Conservative policies on Democrats and President Obama. But the money quote is right here.

    “I really don’t like being lectured on deficits when you (Sen. Gregg) and many members of your party (Republicans) helped cause the situation we are in right now.”

~snip~

    “Please, please, spare the lectures on deficit reduction.”

    ~ Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

A short transcript and more below the fold

First, the transcript:

Sen. Sanders (I-VT):     “Let me begin by saying something to my friend Senator Gregg, through the chairman, throught the chairman. I really don’t like being lectured on deficits when you (Sen. Gregg) and many members of your party (Republicans) helped cause the situation we are in right now. ”

    “People voted, Senator Gregg, I believe you are one of them, for a war in Iraq, which some people will think will cost two or three trillion dollars, but you forgot to pay for that war. You and other people voted for tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, costs $600 billion dollars, forgot to pay for that. You voted for a prescription drug medicare bill which will cost $400 billion dollars but doesn’t negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry, forgot to ask how that was going to be paid for, you voted for the bailout and I believe you want to repeal the inheritance tax, which will cost a trillion dollars over a ten year period, benefiting the top 3/10ths of 1%. I voted against all of those things, so please, please, spare the lectures on deficit reduction.”

    Later in the video, Senator Sanders mentions the fact that America’s top 1% of wealthiest citizens earns more income the bottom 50% COMBINED. RNC Chairman Micheal Steele says that a million dollars after tax isn’t that much money, but it is, a lot more than it was before George W. Bush’s and the so called Fiscal Conservatives passed tax cuts for the rich without considering how that would affect America’s ability to raise the revenue needed to balance the budget. Of course, Fiscal Conservatives will claim that all one needs to do is cut spending too, unless it is for war. But if war is so necessary why isn’t health care reform, or cutting back on pollution, or a number of other issues. Maybe it is because the only thing fiscally conservative about so called fiscal conservatives is the fact that they insist on calling themselves fiscal conservatives.

    In the real world, taking something without paying for it is called STEALING. It’s like Robin Hood in reverse, fiscal conservatives like to rob from the poor and give to the rich.

    But what so called fiscal conservatives are really trying to do can be best summed up by the example I have provided below.

    Imagine sharing an apartment with someone and going grocery shopping and then watching your roommate, who didn’t spend a dime of his own money, clean out the fridge while you are at work. When you get home and discover what has happened your roommate immediately blames you for the mess and then insists that whatever food is left must be rationed between the two of you. And your roommate will not let you cook what you want, only what he wants.

    The same story works with booze as well, and would be appropriate, because the so called Fiscal Conservatives of the GOP and their BushDog/ConservaDem counterparts have spent like drunken sailors on shore leave when in power, and only when they are out of power and beginning to sober up do they start actually caring about deficits and debt, but fortunately, they don’t ever remember what caused those deficits. How can they remember that THEY caused the deficits if they are trying to blame it on Democrats and the current Administration?

    The best way to counter this move by Conservatives to try and blame Democrats for our deficits and hamstring our ability to pass our agenda is to simply tell the truth. The truth is that so called Fiscal Conservatives such as George W. Bush, Ben Nelson, Judd Gregg and Eric Cantor didn’t even try to pay for any of their plans, instead they left all of their deficits on the White House front door in a burning bag for the next administration. My advise to Democrats and the White House, if I might dare to advise on the matter, is to NOT try and stamp out the burning brown deficit bag. Instead, we should make sure everyone in America knows where this deficit came from ( the Iraq War crime, Tax cuts for the rich and other anti-working class Conservative Corporatist policies that DO NOT WORK ). Otherwise Democrats will take the blame for all of the GOP’s policy disasters. Blame the GOP, blame George W. Bush, who was supported by every Republican right up until the moment when McCain/Palin lost the Presidential Election. But most of all, DO NOT attempt to stamp out the Brown Burning Bag of Bush/Conservative deficit, it is not as important as putting Americans back to work and once the shit gets on your shoes you will own it, dear Democrats.

   Like a pack of irresponsible school kids, the GOP should not surprise us anymore. Good thing we have strong voices such as Senator Bernie Sanders to call the so called “fiscal conservatives” out when they try to pass off their flaming bag of deficit crap on someone else.

   You can follow me on Twitter @JesseLaGreca

How’s that for the truth?

Also crossposted at ProgressiveElectorate.com