Famous Judd Gregg notepad– Gracing many a political banquet place-setting since 1993.

When I got my Union Leader out of the tube early this morning and saw the blurb on the left hand side of the front page touting a story about Senator Judd Gregg and the ongoing bailout-mania, I nearly choked on my coffee when I read the words:

Adding to the federal deficit with an economic stimulus package should lead to greater long-term fiscal stability for the federal government, as well as greater productivity and economic competitiveness, U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg said yesterday.

Huh? Spending more money that we DON’T have will HELP our long-term fiscal stability? I can’t think of any big-spending, government loving liberals that could have articulated their beliefs more clearly than has Judd with the above sentiment. Has he completely lost his mind? Having announced his intention to run for yet another term in the Senate in 2010, is his plan to throw all of his supposed long-standing conservatism (and the conservatives that rely on him) out the window? The last thing we need in the next two years– one dominated by a Democratic ruling majority– is another key Republican "leader" dishing out "Democrat-lite." 

Conventional wisdom held by many Republicans and Independents alike is that part of the reason the GOP finds itself on the outside looking in is because they blew it when it came to any pretense of fiscal restraint. Now, when taking on the Democrats– the REAL pros when it comes to taxing hard-working, productive Americans and giving it away to the many takers– they have no credibility… and we all suffer (and our children’s children’s children).

Perhaps someone should remind Senator Gregg of the words of another Republican that shows the extent to which he has strayed. From Ronald Reagan’s First Inaugural Address:

 

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

Got that? Back to Judd Gregg as reported in the UL article noted at the top of this post– I wonder if I’m the only one that, once reading further into the article, became confused. On the one hand, he says

significant deficit spending is needed as the country faces an extraordinarily difficult economic situation, at the same time the federal treasury experiences a radical drop in revenues.

And then in the next breath says we must exercise

fiscal restraint.

Uh-huh. We sure do.

Here’s what soon-to-be president Obama (the un-Reagan) had to say on bailout mania, with government as the panacea for our present woes:

“It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe,” 

“Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy – where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.”

Tell me how that differs from what Judd Gregg is saying? One last time from the Union Leader article:

"We know we are facing a fiscal tsunami as a nation. The baby-boom generation is about to be fully into retirement," Gregg said.

But right now the country needs a robust stimulus package, he noted, and said he is willing to work with Democrats to craft a plan. "I don’t think we can afford partisan politics at this time. We need to govern," Gregg said.

Uh-oh!!!

Please Senator Gregg– now is exactly NOT the time to be doing THAT! We need some Reagan, man, more than ever!

[H/T Daniel Halper for the Reagan and Obama quotes]