Republicans are extremely adept at trying to have things both ways on myriad issues. Senator Jon Kyl was no exception on CNN yesterday as he tried to talk up Bush's tax cuts while excluding him from blame over the current financial wreckage we are experiencing now. Kyl can spin all he wants, but the facts have a funny way of getting through the nonsense of his words.
From ThinkProgress:
Today on CNN’s Late Edition, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) claimed President Bush’s economic agenda had nothing to do with the current financial crisis, insisting defiantly that Bush “doesn’t run the economy”:
KYL: George Bush doesn’t run the economy. He didn’t create this problem. His tax rates being lower actually helped for six years create the second largest economic growth that we’ve had in the history of the country in recent years. … The President doesn’t run the economy.
The current financial crisis is a direct result of Bush running the economy. Bush’s massive tax cuts for the wealthy have contributed to record inequality and historic deficits and debt. The administration gutted several “specific regulations” of the financial system, helping plunge Wall Street into the mess it is facing today.
Embracing a common conservative talking point, Kyl tried to lay all the blame for the crisis on the lack of regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As Alan Greenspan, SEC Chairman Chris Cox, and former Treasury Secretary John Snow — along with the Wonk Room — have stated, this is false.
Of course, Kyl doesn't know jack shit about how to help the economy for anyone that ranks below John McCain's definition of middle class. For the 99.9 percent of us that make less, we have certainly felt the effects of Bush's economic stewardship, if you can use such a word to describe the disaster he has been for our nation. The decisions he has made have wrecked the country and if we let him get social security privatization through we'd be even more seriously screwed. Republicans must think the American people are stupid if we are to believe that the President has no economic pull, nice try Kyl.
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