The audacity of spin

About the attack ad that accuses Barbara Boxer of 28 years of “voting to add trillions to the national debt” and “driving away California jobs”? Let’s get out our history books and pocket calculators and see if it’s anything more than a well-funded attempt to fool those of us with short memories.

Look back 10 years. There was a budget surplus. California was thriving, truly the Golden State. George W. Bush became president and boom! Let the squandering begin: a huge tax cut that disproportionately favored the wealthy. In 2002, Pay as You Go expired and was not renewed; and charge it! Republicans were off to the races! Two wars, another huge tax break, Medicare Part D, (a much needed program, but as implemented funnels government money to pharmaceutical companies because the Republican Congress agreed to pay big pharma full, non-negotiated prices), topped off with a fourth quarter Wall Street bailout. All this without paying for a penny of it. The solution: more tax breaks!

Eight years of profligate spending later, we’re $10+ trillion in debt. These were not Democratic Party, Barbara Boxer, programs; they were the Republican agenda charged to the national credit card.

As far as “driving away California jobs,” how about an Enron-created “energy crisis” in 2000 (Now, which presidential candidate rode in the Enron corporate jet during the 2000 campaign?) followed by the 'Govenator,' a political newbie, celebrity “businessman” who pledged to make California business-friendly and do some pummeling? No responsibility there?

Anna Monday