Bush Administration Blames Bill Clinton for Deficit

It’s not just me and you who don’t have enough money to go around. The Bush administration has pushed the government to the point of bankruptcy too. Starting Oct. 1, when the 2009 fiscal year begins, we are toast.

We have just got to get somebody smart in the Oval Office again. America can’t survive another mean-spirited, half-wit puppet president.

The White House on Monday predicted a record deficit of $490 billion for the 2009 budget year, a senior government official told CNN.

The deficit would amount to roughly 3.5 percent of the nation’s $14 trillion economy.

The official pointed to a faltering economy and the bipartisan $170 billion stimulus package that passed earlier this year for the record deficit.

As one economist said at the time of the stimulus proposal,

Let’s drop the euphemism of “stimulus package” and call this agreement by its proper name: “deficit spending.”

The Bush administration has been the borrow and spend ticket since it came to power. When, in the history of the world, has a government simultaneously cut taxes (for the rich) and funded war? There’s a reason the answer to that question is: never.

President Bush inherited a budget surplus of $128 billion when he took office in 2001 but has since posted a budget deficit every year.

The Bush administration has spent heavily on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and faces a large budget shortfall in tax revenue because of Bush’s tax cuts and a souring economy.

So who do they blame for the current state of affairs? Give yourself a gold star if you answered, “Bill Clinton.”

…the senior administration official says the budgetary problems stem from what is believed to be inadequate defense, intelligence and homeland security resources that were handed down from Clinton.

Oh please.

[Democratic North Dakota Sen. Kent] Conrad, who chairs the Senate’s budget committee, accused the president of “squandering” the surplus he inherited from President Bill Clinton and said the increased debt the government has taken on to cover the deficit has undermined the value of the dollar and hurt the overall economy.

“If they gave out Olympic medals for fiscal irresponsibility, President Bush would take the gold, silver and bronze,” Conrad said. “With his eight years in office, he will have had the five highest deficits ever recorded. And the highest of those deficits is now projected to come in 2009, as he leaves office.”

And speaking of Bush leaving office, I have a confession to make. I used to think, back when the Republican primary was ongoing, that it might not be so bad if John McCain were their nominee. I looked at the nut jobs he was running against, plus I accepted some of the “maverick,” decent guy crapola that I now see is completely false.

Even worse, watching McCain campaign the past month or so, I truly, truly believe he is as dumb as the Current Occupant. We have just got to get somebody smart in the Oval Office again. America can’t survive another mean-spirited, half-wit puppet president.

29 Comments

  • July 28, 2008 - 8:41 pm | Permalink

    Let’s see … 9/11 was Clinton’s fault, the deficit is Clinton’s fault. What isn’t Clinton’s fault? More importantly, if the Republicans can’t fix any of these problems that are allegedly the Democrats’ fault, then why elect them to office in the first place?

  • a j.
    July 28, 2008 - 8:55 pm | Permalink

    when clinton was president the rep.took control of both houses first time in 46yrs,remenber contract with america to balance the buget,all clinton did was sign the bill.

  • simian
    July 28, 2008 - 9:54 pm | Permalink

    The last time we had bank failures, war and recession was under BushI (supposedly the smater one). I don’t think it’s a coincident that we’ve had war and recession under both Bushes. The Bushies run the country like an organized crime family. Funnel money to their rich corporate buddies who give kick-backs in the form of “political contributions” while they stick everyone else with the bill. they need their phony wars to help funnel the money while giving them the pretext to cut funds from all the other socally redeeming programs that they so despise. Mission Accomplished! At least for them only.

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  • WDRussell
    July 29, 2008 - 7:23 am | Permalink

    Well sure it is Bill Clinton’s fault.

    If he had left Bush with a
    trillion dollar surplus instead of 128 billion, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

  • July 29, 2008 - 12:36 pm | Permalink

    America can’t survive another mean-spirited, half-wit puppet president.

    Well, you’d better get used to the thought of another mean-spirited asshole in the WH, an asshole by the name of McCain, because “Duke Nuke ‘Em” McCain will win, or should i say “steal” the 2008 presedintial election using the same vote fraud machinery Bushie did.

    Do you truly believe a criminal organization like the Bush Crime Family would let a Dem actually win the WH and take a chance on being investigated?

  • Mary
    July 29, 2008 - 2:10 pm | Permalink

    Greg – I truly believe that if McCain wins the people will take to the streets. There is just no way McCain can win legitimately and I think the majority of the people in this country know that.

  • Marcia C
    July 29, 2008 - 2:45 pm | Permalink

    The bush regime have crossed the line into actual and undeniable insanity.

  • Jon
    July 30, 2008 - 5:20 pm | Permalink

    Actually, I voted for McCain in 2000 depsite Bush winning the primary. The guy actually stands more for what he believes in then you may realize. He has given 40+ years of his life to this country out loyalty, duty, and honor.

    If he had won the primary back in 2000, the US would definitely be different as he would not have swept the intelligence community under the rug in regards to Osama bin Laden. There is a good chance he would have won the general election too. The main reason he lost was Big Oil and Jeb Bush stumping for his brother in Florida.

    See the film “No End In Sight” and you’ll see the plan that McCain warned Bush not to utilize but Big Oil won again. We are still at war because of what was done then like disbanding the Iraqi military. Within 8 hours of that happening, the first assault on US troops in Iraq occured. Publically, it was Rumsfeld’s choice but he can’t tie his shoes without permission from the guy who has his hand up Bush’s ass — Cheney.

    Do I think McCain will be good for the US? … Yes. Is he committed to finishing the war in Iraq? … Yes. Will we maintain troops over there? … If we need to.

    “Americans have no problem with our military being overseas at one of our bases as long as they are not being attacked or are dying.” — John McCain, when asked by Tim Russert whether or not he’ll maintain troops in Iraq if we win the war

    In other words, look at Germany or South Korea. We have bases there but we are not being attacked and no one has a problem with it.

  • abby
    October 9, 2008 - 5:52 pm | Permalink

    Since you think Clinton walks on water and BHO will too, men are going to look as dumb as a load of goats with rags on their heads and women walking around covered from head-to-toe. If Clinton had not kicked the can down the street and taken bin Laden, there is a 95% chance we would not have gone to war. If you think McCain is so stupid, I hope you know how to fire a weapon and better still, hope you have one.

    Abby/USN ret

  • Tia
    October 12, 2008 - 2:22 pm | Permalink

    Isn’t that the way America is operating now: Blame someone else. I really think all of us are smarter than to let someone else think for us ~ and to believe all that we see in print. This is life. There are no do-overs. I am sure that whomever is elected into office will do everything in their power to do what is right for America. There has yet to be a president that was 100% popular with all Americans. But to insunuate that we should all be packing guns, wearing rags on our heads and looking dumb as goats if Senator Obama is elected is just plain crazy. At times like these I am forever grateful to my parents for teaching me to search for my own answers instead of letting someone else “manipulate” me into believing what they want me to.

  • Neil Wesson
    October 16, 2008 - 3:09 am | Permalink

    If Bill Clinton used the two oppurtunities he had to kill O.bin Laden,Sept 11 would not have happened and there would have been no wars.Thus saving millions of dollars. Indirectly Bill Clintons fear of creating a internatinal incidentby killing a terrorist and maybe a few civilians has cost USA trillions. What will Obama do? Negotiate with terrorists! No country will ever respect the USA again and will become the laughing stock of the world especially the Middle East.

  • October 16, 2008 - 9:17 am | Permalink

    It wasn’t Clinton who aimed the missiles that missed bin Laden, Neil. It was the U.S. military — so you’re blaming 9/11 on the military?!

    Wow!

  • Chris B
    January 28, 2009 - 4:22 pm | Permalink

    “If Bill Clinton used the two oppurtunities he had to kill O.bin Laden,Sept 11 would not have happened and there would have been no wars.Thus saving millions of dollars.”

    Gee, by that logic if Donald Rumsfeld would have killed bin Laden under G.H.Bush’s administration, Sept. 11th wouldn’t have happened, either.

    Idiot.

    Sept. 11th happened under only 1 Commander in Chief: George W. Bush.

  • Danny A
    February 19, 2009 - 4:39 pm | Permalink

    I find it amazing that the Democrats think if you have no money and you spend more you will have more. Clinton raised everyones taxes, never balanced the budget, cut defense to where the military had to cannibalize parts to keep planes in the air.
    So what we have walking on the water for the democrats is a man that doesn’t know what sex is, didn’t know when he had sex, and wasn’t sure what the term sexual relations mean. And to the democrats passed on a 128 Billion dollar surplus. Now isn’t it funny, that surplus is almost the same amount he cut from the defense budget.
    Under Clinton watch

    On 26 February 1993, a car loaded with 1,200 pounds of explosives blew up in a parking garage under the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring about a thousand others.

    On 13 November 1995, a bomb was set off in a van parked in front of an American-run military training center in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians.

    On 25 June 1996, a booby-trapped truck loaded with 5,000 pounds of explosives was exploded outside the Khobar Towers apartment complex which housed United States military personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing nineteen Americans and wounding about three hundred others.

    On 7 August 1998, powerful car bombs exploded minutes apart outside the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people and wounding about 5,000 others.

    On 12 October 2000, two suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden skiff next to the USS Cole while it was refueling in Aden, Yemen, blasting a hole in the ship that killed 17 sailors and injured 37 others.

    I have news for you, Clinton didn’t walk on water, Kennedy didn’t swim in water, and your new Messiah’s promises don’t hold water.

  • February 19, 2009 - 10:23 pm | Permalink

    Danny, do you have any idea how many acts of terror were directed at American service members worldwide under Bush? By your reasoning, everything that happened in the world during Clinton’s presidency was Clinton’s fault. Using the same measure, the number of incidents under Bush would be in the tens of thousands.

  • February 20, 2009 - 11:31 am | Permalink

    Danny, Ditto what Trish said and would add that the first World Trade Center attack was 35 days after Clinton was inaugurated, which means it was planned under Poppy Bush’s watch.

    The defense cuts also started under Poppy and for a good reason: The Cold War was over, thanks to the Soviet’s folly in Afghanistan and Gorbachev.

    There was indeed a huge surplus when your Dear Leader Bush, the aristocratic half-wit cokehead alcoholic, stole the election, and he proceeded blow through that and leave us in the worst financial state in generations — all with the help of the Dittoheads in Congress who shut down the federal government in 1995 (because Speaker Gingrich’s feelings were hurt when he had to ride in the back of Air Force One) and who, at the behest of your new Dear Leader Rush, are trying their damnedest to make America fail today.

    The question is, why do Rush and you Dittoheads want so badly for America to fail?

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  • Steve
    October 28, 2010 - 1:32 pm | Permalink

    Hold everything! Clinton’s off the hook. Now everything is Obama’s fault. Especially, the bailouts that stabilized the banking system, the nucleus of a saner health care system, the rising stock market, recent decreases in unemployment. You name it, it’s Obama’s fault.
    Conservatives these days are little more than mewling and puking whiners.

  • Pete
    August 1, 2011 - 1:30 pm | Permalink

    No one seems to mention that Clinton max surplus was at +236 billion in 1999. Why is it when Clinton handed the keys to Bush, the surplus is now +128 billion? The economy was begining to wain before Bush took office. Bush brought it under control in 2004, then in 2007 Democrats took control of both houses and the economy crashed.

    • Madison
      August 1, 2011 - 2:45 pm | Permalink

      When will you Bush cult members stop blaming Clinton for your Dear Leader’s failures?

  • MegaCynic
    September 8, 2011 - 7:22 am | Permalink

    Is it possible we focus too much on short term indicators and compare presidential administrations without digging a bit deeper into the cause and effect creating the short term outcomes. How did the Clinton administration end-up with a balanced budget? And what was the longer term effect of the vibrant economy of the Clinton administration. I recall reading an article that mentioned the tech boom Wall Street trading produced significant tax revenue during Clinton’s administration and when that bubble burst I recall reading a few articles about how Wall Street Specualtors fled the equities market and became real estate brokers and real estate speculators. When the Wall Street Bubble burst Greenspan lowered interest to keep the economy going rates and mortgage rates were too tempting to ignore. The was also an interesting article in Bloomber Business week by Peter Coy “Bill Clinton’s Drive to Increase Homeownership Went Way Too Far” (2/27/2008). If you want to have a vibrant economy housing is one of the best ways to stimulate it, but what do you do when the party is over? And, who now doubts the consequences of gutting The Glass-Steagall Act which was the mission of Clinton and Robert Rubin (PBS Frontline: The Warning and Mr. Weil Goes To Washington). George W. Bush obviously owns some responsibility for our problems. When you stimulate a bubble or bubbles, eventually their will be a bust.

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