From: paul@hsh.com
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush
Subject: Re: Dear Democrats & Repubs too
Date: 5 Nov 92 22:22:51 GMT
 <1992Nov4.181605.178@hsh.com> <1db70gINN6l@rave.larc.nasa.gov>
Organization: HSH Associates


Sheesh -- it's awfully easy to get under some people's skin:

In article <1db70gINN6l@rave.larc.nasa.gov>, jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov
writes: 
> In article <1992Nov4.181605.178@hsh.com> paul@hsh.com writes:
>>
>>Well, that's only as it should be.  Everything bad that happened after 
>>January 1981 was Reagan's fault; everything bad after January 1989 was 
>>Bush's fault.  This is the "fact" that the left has been chanting for
>>twelve years.  They can't change it now, because they chanted this lie so
>>loudly for so long, it has assumed the air of truth. 
>>
>>And if it isn't Democrat Clinton's fault, then who ya gonna blame?   The
>>Democratically-controlled Congress?  Talk about hoist on their own petard.

> How about if they blame assholes like you? 

Oh, Puh-Leeeze.  Such a witty retort, such brilliant repartee.  Guaranteed
to make me receptive to the rest of what you may have to say, given the
breathtaking logic of your insightful opening line.  

Now that you've endeared yourself to me -- and assuming I'm not dealing
with some pimply hacker at a NASA keyboard, but rather an adult -- let's
see what else you have to say.

> Paul, in case you haven't noticed,
> *alot* of democrats ARE NOT blaming Bush for the recession, they're blaming
> him for NOT RECOGNIZING that the country was in deep shit and badly needed
> some leadership to get it out again. They're Blaming Bush for being proud
> of his inability to compromize with congress to get *something* done. 

Better.  Better.  Yes, there's truth in what you say -- but there's truth
in what *I* said, too.  How many times were we brainwashed by the lines
"Bush presided over the worst economy in 50 years" (a flat-out falsehood;
it wasn't), "Bush is responsible for the biggest deficit" (and we thought
Congress spent the taxpayers' money), etc etc ad nauseum barf.  To hear the
left tell it, Congress has been completely absent from any negative
developments of the past 12 years.  And rather than flame me, you could
have the decency to debate me on the merits of my assumption. 

> In case you were asleep at the time, 

[Let it pass, let it pass...]

> 90% of the nation (democrats and republicans alike)
> were in support of Bush during the Gulf War, primarily because he *was* a
> leader and he *had* a goal. After the war, he rested on his accomplishments
> and ignored what was going on in the country, that there were alot of people
> hurting because of the economy and social/ethinc tensions. *Many* people
> felt betrayed because he *failed* to recognize what to them was painfully
> obvious...

Yes, this is true.  Bush had the election sown up, and what destroyed his 
chances was the sense of betrayal by his attitude, his lack of action. 
However, he -- and *everyone*, in the beginning -- had every reason
to believe that this recession would be like most other post-WWII
recessions -- a quick-and-dirty recession that would not last long.

Further, it's long been known to rational economists that government
meddling does practically nothing to stimulate an economy under such 
circumstances; aside from interest-rate cuts (which it did, almost too
much), any Washington-directed plan always takes so long to implement, its
effects are felt AFTER the recession is over (and precipitates inflation). 
The economy isn't directed by fiat from Washington (at least not yet), but
rather by the hundreds of thousands of decision-makers known as
businessmen.  Bush had no reason to believe that this recession would be
any different.  Hell, Congress felt the same way; their relief plan was to
extend unemployment benefits. 

What the White House did not see coming (nor did Congress) was the
recession that would hit our major trading partners at about the same time.
Our recession was made worse by the fact that our major trading partners,
too, were having recessions.  The usual tide of exports would have made
things a lot less painful -- but it didn't happen. 

> Typical Republican tactics...try to figure out who's to blame instead
> of trying to get the job done...

And so we end as we began.  There now -- I've given you topics for debate.  
Want to do so, or just fling darts?  :)

------

 Paul Havemann, VP          HSH Associates            (201) 838-3330 
 Internet: paul@hsh.com     Compuserve: 70410,3507    AOL: HSH Assoc
 "Any opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the company."
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