Two recent articles by Cal Thomas published in the New Orleans Advocate of 11/1 and 11/4 continue the mis-information Thomas is noted for over the years. The first article titled, "Voters face time for choosing (again)" tries to make President Reagan a champion on fiscal policy but cannot back it up with facts. Thomas uses the national debt as an example and it blows up in his face because he fails to articulate Reagan's actual failed fiscal record during his 8 years as President.
Thomas reminds his readers that in 1964 Reagan made a speech in support of GOP Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater that he, Thomas recently re-read and how little has changed six decades later and still unresolved. Thomas goes on to quote, we have not balanced the budget 28 out of the last 34 years. It is unclear from the article if Reagan made that statement or Thomas himself. Also unclear is the time frame. Is it 34 years that past before 1964 of Reagan's speech or 34 years that passed before 2024.
If it was the years prior to 1964. the budget was balanced 8 times by President's Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Hoover. If it was before 2024, 4 budgets were balanced by President Clinton. Thomas also mentions the national debt in 2024 is 35 trillion that makes the 1964 debt look like chump change. This line of thought captured the essence of Reagan's philosophy and would define conservatism for decades to come says Thomas. In fact, Reagan himself, destroyed the concept of conservatism along with his own party the 8 years he was President.
President Reagan never balanced one budget in his 8 years; the national debt at the end of Carter's last fiscal year was less than a trillion dollars, it stood at $997 billion. 8 fiscal years later when Reagan left office the national debt stood at $2.8 trillion, an increase of 187%, the largest percentage increase in the last 70 years; spending was up 75%, the largest increase since the Nixon-Ford admin.; Reagan was the first admin. to have a annual $1 trillion budget. Reagan was the one who started the national debt on its upward spiral and was never conservative when it came to fiscal matters and the record confirms that.
Thomas second article titled, "House speaker Johnson is Clark Kent" was as out of touch with reality as you can get. In a telephone interview with Johnson, he tells Thomas when a GOP congressional committee meets with the Pentagon, they ask what is the top threat to America, and the Pentagon says the national debt. Johnson says we have got to get back to fiscal sanity, that's one of the foundation principals of our party. The Pentagon has never said the national debt is America's top threat. Thomas never asked Johnson and both were silent on the facts. Since 1980 the largest increases in the national debt took place on the republican watch. No republican President has balanced the federal budget since Eisenhower in 1960. The Trump admin. added more to the national debt than any other President in a 4 year term, $8.2 trillion.
The GOP is incapable of walking the talk of fiscal sanity. They know it, and Cal Thomas knows it but neither one will be truthful to the American people. Fiscal sanity has not been the foundation of the GOP since President Eisenhower.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
