Says right-wing extremist…Reihan Salam. Read it:
It is certainly true that Republican primary voters tend to be highly ideological, perhaps excessively so, it’s worth recounting Crist’s reasons for backing the stimulus plan.
When Marc Caputo and Steve Bousquet of the Miami Herald asked Crist about the virtues of the plan, he said, “I think it’s fantastic. Are you kidding me? We don’t have to raise taxes.” Moreover, Crist continued, “we might be able to cut property taxes some more. We have more money for education, so we can increase per-student spending. We can spend more money on our roads and infrastructure. We can provide health care for our people. I mean, it’s remarkable.” Indeed, something is remarkable, namely Crist’s rigid adherence to an ideology more pernicious than orthodox progressivism or conservatism or nudism or anarchoprimitivism. I’m referring, of course, to free-lunchism…
Incredibly, Crist demanded that Florida use one-time funds to pay for 12% of the state budget. When Republicans in the state legislature took the difficult step of passing a budget that included unpopular spending cuts, Crist turned around and vetoed hundreds of millions in cuts, despite the continuing deterioration of state revenues. It could be that Crist believes that the federal government will simply pass a stimulus plan every year, one that will grow ever larger without consequence to Florida taxpayers. This, of course, can’t possibly be true. As a result, Crist has committed Florida to a fiscal nightmare, one that will lead to draconian tax hikes and spending cuts long after he makes a break for the U.S. Senate or finds some other comfortable sinecure thanks to the good graces of his many wealthy friends…
After riding an unsustainable building boom, Crist intends to back federal measures like tax credits for home buyers and generous Federal Housing Administration underwriting to prop up still-inflated home values. This is public policy as a Ponzi scheme. And even after free-lunchism proved a spectacular failure over the last decade, whether carried out by the Bush White House or Democrats and Republicans at the state level, Crist seems to have learned nothing…
But the fact that Crist is such a miserable governor is immaterial to his boosters, who insist on seeing him as a “moderate” running against the “extremist” Marco Rubio. Last week, Joe Klein of Time insisted that Crist is a conservative by any reasonable standard: “He is pro-life, pro-gun, antitax, big on law and order, a foreign policy hawk.” This exercise in box-ticking tells us nothing, however, about how Crist has actually governed. Klein makes a solid point when he notes that conservative activists are often unrealistic about the extent to which the size of government can be reduced in the short term. Yet surely there is something unrealistic about Crist’s “optimistic” combination of gimmicky tax cuts and spending increases.
Marco Rubio is far from flawless. He had a mixed record as a state legislator, and he gives the impression of being a better communicator than policymaker. The real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party isn’t between Crist and Rubio. It is between the free-lunchism and realism. If Rubio turns out to be a truth-telling realist, he will do all Americans, Republicans and Democrats and independents, a tremendous favor by bringing Crist’s political career to an ignominious end.
When you have the traditional right-leaning magazines against you- National Review, The American Spectator, The Weekly Standard, etc- you should pause but stay confident. When you’re hammered by a Washington Post conservative like George Will, you should worry but not panic. But, when you’ve lost Grand New Partier Reihan Salam, you should take an ad out in the classifieds. “Seeking: Position with room for growth. Qualifications: Nice smile, tan, and glad-handling skills”.
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Matthew E. Miller can be contacted at Obilisk18@yahoo.com or at his Pawlentyesque blog
October 26th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Excellent article.
I agree that “Free Lunchism” is killing this country. How else to explain a 12 trillion debt and entitlement programs that have been known to be headed for insolvency (with no solution) for many years?
Bush cut taxes without cutting spending. Obama is jacking up spending without meaningful tax hikes (yet). That’s a surefire recipe for bankrupcy.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:40 am
….and yeah, there is a reason he is “Good Times Charlie.”
Setting a basline budget with continuing obligations based on a one time cash infusion is criminal if you ask me.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:42 am
BTW, is Crist still getting serious consideration among the chattering class as a 2012 contender?
October 26th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Buchanan blog: Lindsey Graham attempting to destroy Ron Paul’s audit the Fed bill.
“If you want to stop the war machine, you have to stop the money machine”
-Tom Woods
October 26th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I advise whoever came up with the title to spend some time in California or Michigan.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:51 am
How else to explain a 12 trillion debt
An useless war in Iraq with no bid contracts for Haliburton, tax cuts for the rich (enacted through reconciliation) and never vetoing a spending bill while taking a surplus into a massive deficit? How short the GOP memory….
October 26th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
American,
“An useless war in Iraq”
That’s part of it.
“with no bid contracts for Haliburton,”
That’s dumb. Haliburton’s “share” of the debt probably doesn’t come anywhere close to what the “Stimulus” has set aside for ACORN.
“tax cuts for the rich (enacted through reconciliation)”
That’s part of it, though the middle class actually got a disproportionate share.
“and never vetoing a spending bill”
That’s the biggest part. Now, do you think trillions in payoffs to political allies and new entitlements MIGHT ALSO contribute to the debt?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
The total cost of the 6.5-year war in Iraq thus far has still been about $100 billion less than the price tag for the bloated $787 billion stimulus bill.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
“The total cost of the 6.5-year war in Iraq thus far has still been about $100 billion less than the price tag for the bloated $787 billion stimulus bill.”
BINGO and it did not bother anybody that Mr. Clinton used Haliburton in the Balkans.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Ohio I think the issue is that Halliburton got preferential treatment from the Bush Administration. It’s corruption like this that partially undermined our efforts in Iraq.
I remember those days when all those conservatives were hounding a few renegade Republican Senators like McCain for refusing to support tax cuts unless they came with spending cuts. “Deficits don’t matter” were the golden words. Funny how everyone is singing a different tune now. It’s sort of like Cheney jabbing Obama over Afghanistan, endangering security for not sending more troops, when he was the one dragging his feet for so many years until a few Republicans and Petraeus finally pushed hard enough with Bush to get something done.
Obama’s just repeating everything the Bush Administration and conservatives did wrong, with irresponsible domestic policy and a naive foreign policy. Talk about a “third term”. And conservatives who have been fairweather friends of good government at best have blown all their credibility. Hopefully with a few good new men like Rubio they can reestablish their reputations somewhat. I’m wary of the general conservative groundswell of enthusiasm right now because I really don’t think it’s capable at this point of sane policy. Watch Glenn Beck’s show anytime for proof of that. Austerity may be in now, but soon enough it’ll be back to the good times of tax cuts and deficit spending. If Rubio’s going to be better than that, then bravo for him and may he take his place in the Senate. If not, I’d rather have a dealmaker like Crist there who the party can at least use. And wait until the conservative movement gets its head on straight, before it comes back to party dominance.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
A sure sign of thoughtlessness on the part of people who oppose Pres Bush:
Citing “no-bid Halliburton contracts” as a reason
Do you not realise that even most “no-bid” contracts were actually bid out? Have you ever heard of LOGCAP? I doubt it, so here’s a link concerning the history behind it (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/logcap.htm). Very briefly, the gov’t pre-bids many of these contracts on a contingency basis, meaning they’ll be used if needed, but no need was yet identified. Using a bidding process for emergency battlefield needs doesn’t make sense, as your needs are NOW, and a bid process takes time (depending on the complexity). Halliburton had teh LOGCAP contract, and so it makes sense that, when war broke out, they were used without putting it out to bid.
Let’s rewind a little. Pres Clinton used Halliburton, too, didn’t you know? He used them both when they had the LOGCAP contract, and even when they didn’t. I don’t remember any cries of “foul!” from anyone when this happened (and they likely were right to not complain). Why don’t you find a REAL issue to complain about, hmm?
October 26th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I’ve always wondered why Crist was so popular and why people thought he was a chance in 2012.
But he’ll win this race by at least 10. Watch. Sadly Rubio’s ability is no match for his ego and these people never succeed in the long term.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
The staggering deficits ushered in by Obama have changed all of the standard operating rules of governance. Anytime an economy goes from sizable growth year after year to massive unemployment and the prospect that the sudden recession just might grow into an out-and-out depression, statesmanship requires an agile learning curve.
Crist has exemplified a standard Republican mindset to governing in good times—but that mindset is still superior to the standard Democrat mindset. Now, we need to see how he adapts, adjusts, and overcomes in light of new circumstances. If he displays the discipline to cut spending, we’ll know that he has grown in office.
BTW, it’s fatuous to call Crist the worst governor in America while people like Patrick, Granholm, and Corzine are alive, well, and holding office.
A
October 30th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I love this article. I also never understood why people were so taken with Charlie Christ
He seems the equivilent of Sarah Palin. (Big ego and absolutely no substance)