Lexington, Kentucky Herald Leader Editorial: GOP Rhetoric Ringing Hollow.

GOP rhetoric ringing hollow

Is it just us or does anyone else find this ironic? Congressional Republicans who never uttered a peep against spending the country into a hole on an unprovoked war are suddenly appalled by deficit spending to try to salvage the U.S. economy.

They were fine with wrecking and then rebuilding Iraq on the taxpayer's dime. But now it would be wasteful and ineffective to put Americans to work rebuilding this country's infrastructure.

The economic meltdown that took out 50,000 jobs in a single day this week poses a genuine threat to the security of American families.

Yet Republicans offer little in the way of ideas except more Bush-style tax cuts and anti-government platitudes. If those two things held the key to prosperity and a balanced budget, we'd be there, instead of facing the worst recession since World War II.

No one likes digging us deeper into debt to other countries. The need for stimulus spending reminds us of the shopaholic who promises to cut up his credit cards after one last spending spree.

But President Barack Obama is keenly mindful that the country can't keep spending beyond its means. History will judge him on whether he restores the government to fiscal soundness and puts the economy on more sustainable footing.

Obama inherited an economic crisis that demands action. That's in stark contrast to his predecessor who inherited a $128 billion surplus that was projected to grow to $5.6 trillion in 10 years, but was wiped out many times over by the Iraq war and tax cuts for the wealthy.

Obama and Congress have no good choices. The economy is shattered, and nothing is going to turn it around quickly.

Obama and congressional Democrats are just trying to prime the pump with federal spending and targeted tax cuts that will create jobs in the private sector and help families pay their bills and send their kids to college. The goal is not, as some Republicans contend, to create big new government programs.

It's great that Republicans are suddenly finicky about waste and fraud in government contracting -- where were they when billions went down that rat hole in Iraq? -- and that they realize we're shoving the bill for today's spending onto our grandchildren.

But what about the almost 3 million Americans who will slide into poverty by this time next year if national unemployment catches up with the six states where 9 percent of workers are already jobless?

Maybe Republicans just want to be able to blame Obama for an economy that's not going to perk up fast. But their ideology is ringing awfully hollow in an economy stripped of its comforting bubble.

Editor's comment: "No one likes digging us deeper into debt to other countries. The need for stimulus spending reminds us of the shopaholic who promises to cut up his credit cards after one last spending spree."

The above quote, dear Editor at H-L, explains vividly the fallacy of your argument in support of the stimulus package!