I've heard that said and perhaps there is some truth to it. However, he "financed" the high spending with tax cuts. Where would the "conservative" part of fiscal conservative be?
I think "+" is good and "-" is bad. What are the conservatives trying to conserve anyway? Fiscal responsibility--not, environment--not, family values--not. Male democrates cheat on their wives with other women and conservatives cheat on their wives with other boys/men. The other thing that I do not understand is why the conservatives want liberal governments in other countries? Look at Iran and Afganistan they have been doing so well with the conservative governments. This is what the conservatives will say in 2010. If Macain wins and the economy does well Macain will get credit for it, if the economy does bad then the congress will get blamed for it especially if it is a Democratic congress. If Obama wins and the economy does bad then it's Obama's fault and the Democratic congress's fault. If Obama wins and the economy does well then ------you guessed it right it is because of the $600 rebate.
Points taken, but I think the issue was brought up to point out that Clinton doesn't deserve all the credit for the surplus. It was mostly because of the republican congress.
Clinton supporters tend to forget how the surplus was achieved. (1) He raised income taxes... Duh!, and (2) His timing with the .com bubble (and its ill-gotten capital gains tax windfall) was fortunate.
Regardless of the argument concerning Clinton's "fortunate" timing, the last three Republican administrations made their own "luck" by gang raping the national treasury with their own brand of "fiscal conservatism."
I don't wanna over explain away the cartoon, but Reagan inherited a rough mess by Carter, Clinton didn't believe in a balanced budget until Newt forced him to, with the large republican congress elected in '94. Bush II decided to spend so much on security, rightly or wrongly. I agree with you about the inability to pin the blame for profligate spending though. Unfortunately many of the voters are just members of some special interest group receiving funding, and their votes are basically bought.