June 30, 2011
That would seem to be the implication of his quote in an NYT article:
“The American people know tax hikes destroy jobs … They also know Washington has been on a spending binge for many years, and they will only tolerate a debt-limit increase if we stop it.”
Actually, the economy was creating 3 million jobs a year in the late 90s, when the higher Clinton-era tax rates were in effect. This means that unless the memory of the American people is as bad as Mr. Boehner’s memory, they could not know that “tax hikes destroy jobs,” since it is not true. (It is impossible to know something that is not true.)
This error would seem to qualify as a “gaffe,” like when then-Senator Obama referred to voters in Pennsylvania being bitter and clinging to guns and religion in response to bad economic times. It would have been appropriate for the NYT to press Mr. Boehner on whether he is really ignorant of the economy’s job growth record in the 90s or whether he is deliberately saying things that he knows not to be true.
The “spending binge” presumably refers to the increases in spending that began when President Bush took office. (Spending as a share of GDP rose substantially during the Bush presidency. [Corrected – thanks Tom.]) Most of the increase in spending was on the military. If the Republicans were to support reversing this increase in military spending then they would likely enjoy wide bi-partisan support.
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