GOP refusing to take blame for the financial mess

Dee Van Horn
Published: September 22, 2008

The Republicans have controlled Congress (both houses) for eight of the past 10 years and the presidency for the past eight years. John McCain was majority chairman of the Commerce Committee and his chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, was majority chairman of the Banking Committee. Together they were able to hasten the deregulation of the mortgage, banking and real estate fields. And as we suffer the results of the airline industry deregulation by President Reagan, we are now seeing the effects of the deregulated real estate and banking industries.

When Americans expressed concerns, Gramm called us a “nation of whiners” (Washington Times, July 10). McCain and his campaign said that the Democrats were at fault for the current economic crisis. True, the Democrats have been in power in both branches of Congress but they have not had a veto-proof majority. Thus, the Republicans are still wielding power.

But the Republicans have changed uniforms mid-battle and deny any connection to the Republicans prior to 2006 and to President Bush. In acceptance speeches given by Sarah Palin and McCain, President Bush was not mentioned once. Nor was President Bush mentioned by any of the keynote speakers.

On Chris Matthews’ ‘Hardball” show Sept. 17, Virginia’s 7th District congressman Eric Cantor, the minority whip in The House of Representatives would not answer whether he supported President Bush’s policies of the last eight years. It seems that the Republicans’ idea of change is to deny affiliation with the Republican party of the last decade. Who or what will they deny and/or run away from next?

Dee Van Horn
Culpeper