VanillaGorilla said:
N5 there is nothing you can do to back up calling Kerry Fiscally conservative. The bottom line is that Kerry doesn't fit the definition. You have basically admitted this but you still refer to him as F.C. You can't change the definition of a word just because you want the word to apply to someone.
VG, I tried to avoid getting bogged down into this inane debate about definitions and semantics, but it's clear to me that you do not really understand what you are talking about and your facts are wrong half the time. If you want to debate this stuff then please take the time to get your facts straight.
First, you claim that Kerry didn't have any close senate races and then when I called you on this you admitted that Kerry had one with Weld, which you say was not really close because Kerry won by 10 points. In actuality it was a very close race (according to CNN) and Kerry won by only 8 points, not 10. Again this is not a big mistake, but it shows that you do not check your facts. (
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Second, you claim that only 1 of the guys that served with Kerry supports him when in fact all but 1 of his crew (the guys that actually served under his command) support him, and to my knowledge the 1 that does not hasn't made any negative comments about Kerry. Again, please refrain from making facts up to just support your case.
Third, you claim that veterans that served with Kerry and support him are on the guy's payroll. Please provide some support for this or stop making **** up.
Fourth, you claim that fiscal conservatism has a strict definition of lower taxes, smaller govt and balanced budget. In reality this just shows that you either do not properly understand fiscal conservatism or you try to oversimplify it to fit your argument. Now I have claimed that Kerry's anti-tax votes that were counted as "liberal" by National Journal could just as well have been counted as "fiscally conservative." This label came from an article in The Economist that looked at how liberal Kerry really is. With all due respect I'm sure the staff of The Economist understands fiscal conservatism better than you do.
Let me give you an example of how your definition fails. Say, that a country currently spends 0, receives 0 revenue and has a $500 bn deficit. What would a fiscal conservative do? Guess what, they would raise taxes to balance the budget. Yes, fiscal conservatives do raise taxes if necessary, so your simplistic definition fails. Now I know this is a contrived example, but I feel it's justified since you started talking about the X and Y bullshit.
In truth I do not consider either Kerry or Bush to be true fiscal conservatives, but as I've said, imho, and in the opinion of many others (do a search for news articles on this) Kerry is more fiscally conservative than Bush.
The notion of a fiscal conservative has changed over time as the true fiscal conservatives have adopted different policies and various other politicians and journalists have bickered over who fits the 'definition.'
Here's one definition from
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Fiscal conservatism is the stance that the government must "live within its means". Above all, fiscal conservatives oppose excessive government debt; this belief in balanced budgets tends to be coupled with a belief that government welfare programs should be narrowly tailored and that tax rates should be low, which implies relatively small government institutions.
Kerry fits that definition better than Bush does. I suggest you click on the link and read the rest of it for your own benefit.
Some other relevant reading:
Article from Cato Institute that argues Clinton was more fiscally conservative than Bush. They note that under Clinton federal spending as a % of GDP decreased, whereas under Bush it has ballooned because of such programs as the education bill, the farm bill, the protectionist decisions on steel and lumber and new health-care entitlements, and I would add the cost of rebuilding of Iraq to that list. (
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Here's another article about fiscal conservatism from the Centrist Policy Network; "What is a fiscal conservative anyway?" According to them (and I've heard this elsewhere) tax revenues are at their lowest since the 1950s, whereas spending is not. (
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If you wish I'll provide refs for any of my statements, but other than that I'm done arguing about fiscal conservatisms with you, feel free to have the last say.
-5