An AP article on Sarah Palin's convention speech to the Tea Party noted that her message was "was short on ideas but big on enthusiasm." Doesn't that describe Palin as a whole? In the 3 years she's been in the public spotlight, I have yet to hear her offer any concrete proposals on anything. "Lower taxes"? Seriously? We're running trillion dollar deficits with no end in sight and you want to lower taxes? I seem to recall that the government was running surpluses and paying down the national debt before Bush's tax cuts. How's that Laffer curve working out? Yes, I know, the big issue is spending, but as Obama's freeze on discretionary spending outside defense, Social Security and Medicare showed, there's only so much that can be accomplished with spending cuts if these larger entitlement programs are not specifically addressed and no politician including Palin currently has the machismo to actually do so.
A friend and fellow blogger offered that Palin should be considered for the head of the RNC rather than running for office again. I would rather her be the head of the Tea Party and be out of the ranks and mention of my party altogether.
3 comments:
"I seem to recall that the government was running surpluses and paying down the national debt before Bush's tax cuts. How's that Laffer curve working out?"
Federal revenue did go up after the Bush tax cuts, just not enough to cover Bush's increases in spending on the war and entitlements.
It would be best for the Republicans if she stayed on the fringe.
This is more out of curiosity than debate...why not max out the salary of all politicians (excluding President and VP) at $50,000/year because we all know they can/do bring in tons more through public speaking events and special interest groups paying for vacations, etc. This would not tap into what we owe but I think makes us more fiscally responsible. Tighter restrictions on expense reimbursements - why pay housing benefit, why stay in exclusive hotel suites, why eat meals that could feed the hungry for months for what they cost, etc. I just think public service has been lost in the job description and power and prestige has crept in. When we have people in office who spend a lot of money to live they naturally will spend a lot of unnecessary money in office. Now I'm just rambling but I can't help it. Put a cap on the amount of money to be used for campaigns and maybe they would be more creative and we wouldn't see a commercial every 30 seconds bashing opponents. Ok, I am done now. I just think we are feeding the greed monster.
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