Friday, October 31, 2008

Some Halloween Candy From Pat Buchanan

TW: I actually like Pat Buchanan sometimes, when he is being blunt as opposed to a polemic. But in the referenced piece he stoops to fear-mongering polemics. Save the piece and cross check it in a couple of years, I doubt his dire forecasts will hold much water.

From the Economist:
"Mr Buchanan got a head start lamenting the Obama administration yesterday. Some of his predictions (proliferation of "special protections for homosexuals", "a virtual open border" with Mexico, the "rigorous" enforcement of affirmative action, etc) sound like nostalgia for past grievances. Others are sound, if a bit confusing. For example
— A federal bailout of states and municipalities to keep state and local governments spending up could come in December or early next year.
— The first trillion-dollar deficit will be run in the first year of an Obama presidency. It will be the first of many.

You have to admire the Buchanan brass after deploring it. Irresponsible aid to local governments before inauguration day? That would be arrogant of the president-elect. A trillion-dollar deficit in the first year? That's a near certainty, given that the new president would be operating under the final Bush budget, bailout and all, for his first three quarters. Here's another prediction: Should current polls prove out and Mr Obama become the next president, Mr Buchanan will recycle more prophecies from 1993."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/10/buchanan_looks_forward.cfm

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