4 ms·

I’ve said this a million times. I have no idea how the Republicans have managed to brand themselves as the fiscally-responsible party.

maxxxxx 7y ago
Voters have been trained to listen to soundbites and not look into the real facts. Most news media has perpetuated this. Instead of reporting facts they talking heads yell at each other for hours.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  > talking heads yell at each other for hours. Which is no different than talking heads yelling at the audience through a display and speaker, it's only through mental gymnastics that a degree of separation is established. Propaganda.
snarf21 7y ago
If anyone thinks ANY political party can have all the answers, they aren't using their brain. In addition, our structure today is about keeping the fights as an us vs them, while the corporations steal our lunch while we are distracted. It reminds me of a quote from the movie "The Usual Suspects", 'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'
- stouset 7y ago
  I'm not sure how anything I said can even remotely be construed as implying that any political party can have all the answers, seeing as it was little more than a criticism of one policy area of one political party.
s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
This article goes into a great breakdown of budget deficits by those in power, and it shows that Republicans are better at controlling spending. https://extranewsfeed.com/who-is-better-at-controlling-deficits-republicans-or-democrats-af24c0fd00b0 https://extranewsfeed.com/who-is-better-at-controlling-defic...
- mikeash 7y ago
  It looks at average deficits, which is silly. If X blows up the deficit and then Y gradually shrinks it, Y has a higher average even though Y reduced the problem and X caused it all. And of course this is not a hypothetical at all. Bush and Obama followed this pattern perfectly. Bush’s average deficit was $443 billion. Obama’s was $816 billion. But Bush inherited a surplus, and left office with a deficit of $1.4 trillion. Obama inherited that and left office with a deficit of $665 billion. Am I really supposed to conclude that Bush was better at controlling spending?
bluGill 7y ago
There are a lot of the grassroots Republicans who care and are frustrated by the behavior of their leaders. As you get to state and local levels Republicans tend to be more responsible to the ideals as well. With a couple notable exceptions Republicans at the federal level are as described: lower taxes and spend spend spend. The majority of voters don't care: they want low taxes and high spending on their pork project and they don't really care about the consequences.

maxxxxx 7y ago

Voters have been trained to listen to soundbites and not look into the real facts. Most news media has perpetuated this. Instead of reporting facts they talking heads yell at each other for hours.

newnewpdro 7y ago
> talking heads yell at each other for hours. Which is no different than talking heads yelling at the audience through a display and speaker, it's only through mental gymnastics that a degree of separation is established. Propaganda.

snarf21 7y ago

If anyone thinks ANY political party can have all the answers, they aren't using their brain. In addition, our structure today is about keeping the fights as an us vs them, while the corporations steal our lunch while we are distracted. It reminds me of a quote from the movie "The Usual Suspects", 'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'

stouset 7y ago
I'm not sure how anything I said can even remotely be construed as implying that any political party can have all the answers, seeing as it was little more than a criticism of one policy area of one political party.

s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago

This article goes into a great breakdown of budget deficits by those in power, and it shows that Republicans are better at controlling spending. https://extranewsfeed.com/who-is-better-at-controlling-deficits-republicans-or-democrats-af24c0fd00b0 https://extranewsfeed.com/who-is-better-at-controlling-defic...

mikeash 7y ago
It looks at average deficits, which is silly. If X blows up the deficit and then Y gradually shrinks it, Y has a higher average even though Y reduced the problem and X caused it all. And of course this is not a hypothetical at all. Bush and Obama followed this pattern perfectly. Bush’s average deficit was $443 billion. Obama’s was $816 billion. But Bush inherited a surplus, and left office with a deficit of $1.4 trillion. Obama inherited that and left office with a deficit of $665 billion. Am I really supposed to conclude that Bush was better at controlling spending?

bluGill 7y ago

There are a lot of the grassroots Republicans who care and are frustrated by the behavior of their leaders. As you get to state and local levels Republicans tend to be more responsible to the ideals as well. With a couple notable exceptions Republicans at the federal level are as described: lower taxes and spend spend spend. The majority of voters don't care: they want low taxes and high spending on their pork project and they don't really care about the consequences.