So, oldstyle, lets see what nonsense you have for us today:
I point out that the Democrats held Super Majorities and your response is that the Republicans held "majorities" in the Senate for six of Reagan's 8 years? So what? Does that mean they controlled what legislation came out of the House?
It means, oldstyle, that your sentence was a complete untruth. There was no super-majority at all, oldstyle. Do you yet see the difference. You say there were super majorities throughout reagans administration in both the house and the senate. Which was untrue. And yes, oldstyle, I hate to burst your bubble, but since there was no super majority, your argument falls apart. Since the repubs controlled the senate, then any legislation that got there could pass, barring a fillibuster by the dems. And Filibusters were still few in those days.
That unlike Obama who was able to ram through legislation without a single Republican supporting vote, Reagan was not constantly having to compromise with Tip O'Neil?
Not so, as you should know. Dems are not like lemmings. they do not vote in herds There are, for instance, the red dog dems who are repubs with a D behind their name. They pretty much always vote with the repubs. But then, you know that. And the super-majority went away with the death of Kennedy, and election of Brown. And so, you had less than 2 years as a theoretical super majority in the senate for the dems. Then, you had the leader of the house telling us that his main purpose was to make obama a one term pres. So, don't even try to compare Boehner and mcconnell, senate and house republican leaders, with any past leaders of either house or senate. These guys are run by the tea party.
Jesus, Oldstyle. Is this sentence suposed to mean something?? What is truly laughable is that you still do not understand that there is no such thing as a supermajorioty in the house. Will you ever learn there is no such thing, or are you simply immune to learning. And since I said no such thing as that a super majority is similar to having a majority, since there was NO SUPER-MAJORITY during the reagan administration. Which I proved to you. Are you simply stupid?
No, not particularly unique history. But, they were pretty much pissed after Reagan used Reconciliation FOUR times. Maybe it was payback. But at any rate, it was the right thing to do from an economic point of view.
Right. Just trying to keep you straight, Oldstyle. Your sentence said from 70% in 1986. So your statement is wrong, and gave the impression of a second tax decrease of almost 40%. And by the way, I do not buy the unwarranted comment. That is your opinion, and you know how much I have learned to value your opinion.
Your memory of what Bill Clinton had for a platform running for his first term is rather amusing. It was "the economy stupid"...specifically Bush I's broken promise of no new taxes that Clinton used against the sitting President. Clinton on the other hand promised Middle Class tax cuts if elected...a promise that he subsequently reneged on when he raised taxes.
Wrong, oh great economics historian. It was the economy, plain and simple. Clinton agreed with Bush's tax cuts, but they were way too small. So, where are your links, oldstyle. Kind of hard to produce links when you are lying, Oldstyle. Clinton promised tax increases. And provided them.
And you, oldstyle, are lying about it again.
Now as for your "why should Democrats trust Republicans" rant? What's laughable about that is that Reagan kept his end of the TEFRA deal he struck with Tip O'Neil but it was the Democrats who DIDN'T keep theirs. Yet for some reason you now want to paint Ronnie as the guy who couldn't be trusted? Sorry, but that dog isn't going to hunt.
Oh, it hunts, oldstyle, bigtime. Perhaps you missed the last election. It really, really hunts. People finally caught on and are continuing to do so. And if you think FOUR Reconciliations are not a reason to mistrust him, then keep your lip shut if obama uses three more to see if he can tie Ronnie for the record.
So, there you go, Oldstyle. You have been crushed over and over, shown to have lied, and posted ridiculous statements. And still you think you are winning this discussion. Which, Oldstyle, proves that you are a conservative and that you are delusional. Which is, I admit, redundant.
When did I EVER say that there were any Super Majorities during Reagan's two terms? I was the one who pointed out that Reagan never had the Super Majorities that Obama enjoyed...he had to try and reach compromises with Tip O'Neil.
It's "Blue Dog Democrats" that vote conservatively...not "Red Dog Democrats". Just one MORE thing you're clueless on.
It was the leader of the Senate telling people that his number one goal was to make Obama a one term President. If you didn't have your head up your ass you'd know that was Mitch McConnell. At that time Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House. Another thing you don't know what you're talking about!
You're equally ignorant about Super Majorities. You can too have one in the House. A Super Majority is what is needed to overturn Presidential vetoes and to make amendments to the Constitution. Is there anything that you DO have some knowledge in?
The Democrats reneging on their promises to cut spending "was the right thing to do from an economic point of view"? Interesting concept...you chastise Reagan for increasing the deficit...yet you applaud the Democrats for not cutting spending (which would have decreased that deficit) as they had agreed to do? Isn't it obvious that if they HAD cut spending as they said they would...that the "Reagan deficits" would have been much smaller? So why does Ronnie get the blame for the size of those?
I did not say that Reagan cut taxes from 70% to 28% in 1986. Go back and reread my post. Your word comprehension skills are as bad as your spelling, Rshermr.
I hate to keep bashing you, Rshermr but your recollection of what took place during the Clinton years is AWFUL. You want proof that Clinton ran for office against Bush I promising a Middle Class tax cut but then raised taxes after being elected? This is a discussion of the people in his Administration that were THERE when that decision to raise taxes instead of give a tax cut was made. I think it sums it up rather well...
Chapters - Chapter 3 | The Clinton Years | FRONTLINE | PBS
"During those chaotic first weeks in the White House and following bad news about the size of the deficit, Bill Clinton made one of the most important decisions of his presidency -- to make deficit reduction the centerpiece of his first budget. Some members of the staff argued he was turning his back on campaign promises, in particular that of a middle-class tax cut. And by now Bill Clinton had already lost so much political capital that his budget was in deep trouble even though Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
Begala: My view was that the campaign had been a sacred thing, that it had been a real compact, because I was there and I saw the connection that Clinton made with people, and the connection that they made with him. And this bond, you know, I felt very personally, and I know the president did too. So I had this, I think now naive notion that you would just then get out your campaign book and start on page one, and leaf through and enact everything until you got to page 228. Well, it turns out it doesn't quite work that way, and people who had been around the block a few times tried to explain it.
Stephanopoulos: I wanted to keep as many of the promises as we could. I was committed to the putting people first agenda and actually saw my role, in many ways, as a defender of the promises. So I wanted to do as much of the investment and keep as much of the tax cut as we could, not to the exclusion of deficit reduction. But that's more where my heart was and where I thought we had to protect ourselves politically.
Rubin: Well, the president's view was not that he was abandoning anything. The president's view was that the circumstances were substantially worse than he or any of us thought they were. And that even though it was a very tough path to take, politically, that if he didn't do the tough thing, politically, which is deal with the deficit, then the thing that he was elected to do, which is get the economy back on track, wouldn't happen. And the only way he could get the other things he wanted to do done would be to get the economy back on track.
Panetta: The president is someone who really loves to get the best information from the best minds that he can get a hold of. I mean, I have never seen him intimidated by an in-depth discussion about issues. He loves that. And I think he kind of relished the fact that there was this debate that was going on, and that very strong views were being presented. He never said, "Cool it. I don't want to hear it." Never said that. He always was intense, he was interested. He wanted to hear the discussions, because I think in the president's own mind, he constantly was testing exactly, you know, "How far can I go? What can I do?"
But he was also smart enough to understand that when he looked at some of the veterans he said, "These guys have been around a while, and they've seen these wars." And, you know, he recognized the fact that it wasn't Arkansas, that it wasn't just a question as a governor of a small state working with that kind of budget. He recognized the differences, and that's why I think he put a tremendous amount of trust in his economic team, which ultimately I think made the difference in terms of the final product.
Rubin: When you think of the enormous amount that was accomplished during that period, it's really quite remarkable. The president, from a standing start, put together a government. We put together a budget. The budget, in effect, represented a broad-based economic strategy that represented really quite dramatic change from where the country had been. And the president launched that economic strategy to the nation with his speech to the Congress in February....
Some of the political advisors wanted to see that tax increase using much different rhetoric. I mean, basically, Paul Begala, you know, wanted to sell that tax increase as we're "soaking the rich."
Rubin: Yeah. There was debate on the very day that the speech was delivered. The morning of that day, there was a draft running around, and I remember going to see Hillary, and saying, "You know, Hillary, I think the president's got the substantive message exactly right, but I do think there's a little question here of tone, and I think the president has to decide exactly what tone he wants to have."
And I remember, Hillary and I went down to speak to Paul, who was sort of the "holder of the pen," and we went over sections of this with him. And basically, Hillary said, "Let's make sure that we don't have a divisive tone to what we're doing." And I think she made an enormous contribution to avoiding what I think could have been a counterproductive tone.
In April '93, the stimulus package is up, and Republicans are filibustering it. You go into a meeting and the president is told what's going on, and he gets really angry. Can you describe that scene to us?
Reich: The president was told that the stimulus package was just not going to be passed. There was too much opposition. And he was upset. This was the first big blow to his presidency. I think he was upset, not so much because the stimulus package itself was not going to go through. There had been a lot of debate inside the administration as to whether it was a good idea, whether it would really help jump start the economy anyway. I think he was upset that as president, given that the Congress was Democrat, he didn't have enough power, enough authority to get what he wanted done. Already opposition was forming. Already his ability to change the direction of the country was being challenged, even in his own party.
Later that summer, in August, the deficit reduction bill finally passes the Senate, but it is a harrowing day. What do you remember about that?
Rubin: Yes, it was a harrowing day. In the House, as you remember, it passed by one vote. And I remember being in the Oval Office the night of the vote, and a little television screen they had there, which showed the floor of the House, showed the count as it was building. And we were all sitting -- it was actually in the little back office off the Oval Office -- watching that vote, and it was, to use your term, harrowing. But, ultimately, it passed by one vote and I think there was a sense of very great unease as we watched it. And then of course in the Senate it was a tie and then the vice president cast the tie-breaking vote."
That's what REALLY happened back then. I don't know WHAT it is you're remembering but it has no basis in reality.