Politicians have said an awful lot of stupid things over the years. And it’s not confined to one party or the other – it happens to both. Let’s take a look at some of the more memorable.
Nancy Pelosi‘s “we’ve got to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” is a good place to start. She was referring to Obamacare with that inane comment. Unfortunately, try as we might to get rid of it, we are still stuck with this massive injection of government into our healthcare. Yes, Republicans were able to get rid of some of the more egregious aspects of it: the individual mandate for example, and the tax on medical devices, but the bulk of it is still the law of the land.
John McCain‘s thumbs down in the Senate resulted in Republicans’ failure to get rid of Obamacare. In full disclosure, there are several parts of it that I and many Republicans in Congress support, like pre-existing condition coverage, and the requirement that young people can remain on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26, but overall, it has resulted in more expensive and lower quality healthcare than the American people deserve.
Okay, the next memorable stupid quote on my list, also concerning Obamacare, is from the man himself: “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan.” President Obama’s remark reassured a lot of people. Unfortunately, it turned out for many people to be anything but true. Many Americans were no longer able to see the doctor of their choice. And many people were kicked off their existing healthcare plan. In fact, Politifact determined that this whopper deserved to be the “Lie of the Year.” (Interestingly, it’s Donald Trump the mainstream press found worthy of keeping a running tab on for all the lies he allegedly told, not Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton, or Bill Clinton for that matter.)
OK, let’s make this bipartisan. The next whopper I’ll mention is George H. W. Bush‘s famous “read my lips, no new taxes.” This certainly was a clear, strong, decisive statement. The trouble was, President Bush didn’t live up to the declaration. He cut a deal with the Democrats (and some Republicans) in Congress, and raised taxes. And subsequently lost his bid for reelection.
So why have I gotten all nostalgic this week, and gone back into history to dredge up examples of political rhetoric that was so bad that it’s worth remembering? Because we had an example of it just last week that I believe was so bad that it deserves to go down in the annals of worst political whoppers of all time.
Joe Biden claims that the Democrats’ mega spending bills, which are comprised of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion so called human infrastructure bill “COST ZERO DOLLARS.” Democrats in both the House and Senate have repeated this ridiculous comment over and over. Think of it. The biggest spending bills in the history of the nation, don’t cost anything. It’s just ludicrous. Obviously it costs something – in this case a lot. It costs whatever the price tag for all the spending is. Giving our often-inarticulate president the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that what he meant to say is that the additional spending is matched by additional taxes that are being raised, even that isn’t true. Although taxes are being raised in the bills, as high as that is, doesn’t come close to paying for all the spending. Trillions of dollars will be added to the already bulging national debt, so even giving Biden the benefit of the doubt, doesn’t make his claim even close to being true.
The bottom line is, this president, and his Democrat cohorts in Congress, believe they know how to spend your money, better than you do. And whereas they have done, and are continuing to do, a great deal of damage to our country, and to your wallet, there is a day of reckoning coming, in November next year. Count on it.