Breaking: OH MY GOD! Greenspan SLAMS the GOP!

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Friday September 14, 2007 · 7:15 PM PDT

2007/09/14 · 19:15

Coming from the Washington Post:
Alan Greenspan in his new memoir is telling the Republicans exactly what he thinks of them.
It's laid out in a Bob Woodward preview of the memoir coming out Monday.
And former President Clinton emerges as a hero to boot!
On the Bush administration:

"Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences." The large, anticipated federal budget surpluses that were the basis for Bush's initial $1.35 trillion tax cut "were gone six to nine months after George W. Bush took office." So Bush's goals "were no longer entirely appropriate. He continued to pursue his presidential campaign promises nonetheless."

Story should be online soon
http:///...

The tone of many quotes excerpted by Woodward sound like Greenspan feels almost personally betrayed by his Republican cronies.

Greenspan's 531-page memoir (rarely brief, is he) is titled ""The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.""
Woodward points out that Greenspan's rather harsh criticism of Bush -- AND THE (formerly) REPUBLICAN CONGRESS) on economic and fiscal policies will do the GOP no favor in 2008.

Check out this from the guy who defended the 2001 tax cut:
More from WaPo:

By the end of last year, Greenspan writes with some bitterness, Washington was "harboring a dysfunctional government. ... Governance has become dangerously dysfunctional."

By the end of last year????
Umm, I think it was by mid-2001!!!

But Greenspan has praise for Clinton:

However, he calls Clinton a "risk taker" who had shown a "preference for dealing in facts," and presents Clinton and himself almost as soul mates. "Here was a fellow information hound. ... We both read books and were curious and thoughtful about the world. ... I never ceased to be surprised by his fascination with economic detail : the effect of Canadian lumber on housing prices and inflation. ... He had an eye for the big picture too."

He notes that Clinton tended to face reality and points out the mess Clinton inherited, cleaned up, and that another Bush squandered:

"The hard truth was that Reagan had borrowed from Clinton, and Clinton was having to pay it back. I was impressed that he did not seem to be trying to fudge reality to the extent politicians ordinarily do. He was forcing himself to live in the real world."

The story is a good read.
I am no Greenspan fan, but it is kind of sad and ironic to see how this guy widely praised as so brilliant seemed to awake just in the last year or so.

Greenspan has harsh words for the former House Republican leaders, singling out Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay.

This is likely to be deep fodder for Sunday morning "news" programs.

But in the end, it sounds like Greenspan wrote this for history. As if it were his last word. And he is trying to be honest. ( But trying to cover his butt too).

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