Nobody spends like the GOP

Listening to Mike McGavick attempt to apply the "big spender" brand to Maria Cantwell reminds us that the GOP is not about issues, it is about propaganda. Jumping up and down on the "big spender" hot button may impress the few remaining Americans who haven't learned to check the BS gauge, but the rest of us have learned, when Republicans talk, the facts generally run in the opposite direction.

"Big Spender" is a line borrowed from Karl Rove's focus groups. It has little connection to the sorry record of the past six years. The Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency. Spending has gone out of control. Combined with the tax cuts for the rich, you have the most profligate administration in history. All the Democrats can do is watch.

Here's the deficit chart again. The numbers include -- as they should -- borrowing from Social Security and Medicare funds.

Portraying Democrats as big spenders is dishonest and absurd after six years of the GOP's fiscal follies.