Conservatives to Obama: Spend More!

[DonViejo]

by Peter Beinart Apr 15, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

From Sarah Palin to Paul Ryan and now Greg Walden, why do Republicans keep attacking Obama for trying to save money? Peter Beinart explains this weird phenomenon.

Washington Republicans believe passionately in deficit reduction, except in two circumstances: when they’re in power and when Democrats are.

During the George W. Bush years, Dick Cheney famously said that “deficits don’t matter.” And by their actions, many prominent Republicans sent exactly the same message. Between 2001 and 2008, even anti-debt crusaders like Paul Ryan voted for three tax cuts and two wars that, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, will add $6 trillion to the national debt by 2019. They also supported the costliest new Medicare plan ever and a highway bill that included the infamously wasteful “Bridge to Nowhere.”

Since President Obama took office, the GOP’s rhetoric has radically changed. Most Washington Republicans still don’t believe enough in deficit reduction to want to cut the Pentagon or raise taxes, but when it comes to domestic spending, the Republican Party has begun breathing fire. Some Republicans have even chastised their own party for being too free spending during the Bush years.

All of which makes the GOP’s reaction to Obama’s recent budget so intriguing. Some Republican leaders have criticized the President for not cutting entitlement spending enough. But Oregon Congressman Greg Walden, who just happens to lead the GOP’s campaign to retain the House in 2014, has said exactly the opposite, calling Obama’s cuts to Social Security cost of living adjustments “a shocking attack on seniors” and adding that Obama is “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors.”

Full article
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/15/conservatives-to-obama-spend-more.html

[ellenfl]

1. perhaps the response that po was looking for. eom

[leftyohiolib]

2. sop for the gop re;potus attack from all angles

one group will bitch that he's doing too much and another will bitch that he's doing too much. fishing to see what sticks