President says "Social Security Has Nothing to Do With The Deficit"

[MADem]

and "Tax loopholes allow some millionaires to pay nothing!"

Send this to your GOP sparring partners, acquaintances, and family members...because it's not the President you might think:

Watch heads explode!!

[xtraxritical]

1. I can't understand why President Obama does not explicitly say the same thing?

[bulloney]

2. Another example of Reagan mythology.

I can't tell you how many "discussions" I've been around where Reaganbots argue that Reagan did this and stood for that and on and on. It's so obvious that these "experts" listen to Faux Snooze and the Clear Channel RW talk shows and regurgitate them, thinking they're armed to the teeth with information. Actually, they're bringing a knife to a gunfight.

They argue that Reagan was a fiscal conservative, cut taxes more than raised them, shrank the size of government, had zero tolerance for illegal immigrants, ended the Cold War, and put America back to work. I laugh out loud when anyone begins spewing out the nonsense.

[MADem]

3. Shrank the size of government? I labored valiantly trying to provide that

bastard with a 600 ship Navy, only to have to fire good people by the scores during the inevitable drawdown--long after His Highness had left the public stage-- that followed the end of the First Cold War (something a fellow named Gorbachev had something to do with, as well). And he was the guy who left the back door open, so all that cheap labor that was needed during that era of rambunctious and unrestrained spending could stream across the border and keep wages low.

But he was old school on a few topics--some of that FDR stuff from his days as a Dem didn't wear off, it would seem.

[bulloney]

4. I'll argue that the end of the Cold War had more to do with people like Gorbachev,

Walesa and Pope John Paul II, and less, if anything to do with Reagan. The Soviet Union imploded on its own acts of misplaced priorities, much like what the US has continued doing since. As someone on this website stated several months ago, the US didn't win the Cold War as much as the Soviet Union lost first.

[MADem]

5. I won't disagree. We certainly outspent them.

And we played a few High Tech game cards--stealth tech, SDI, e.g.

I was offered an opportunity to be involved with that Star Wars bullshit. I eschewed it for operational activities, and boy am I glad I did. That was a huge smoke-and-mirrors game, part of the "I can spend more money on Defense Bullshit than YOU can!" adventure that helped push the end along.