Ben Stein has really changed his tune

[Courtesy Flush]

I rolled my eyes at the promo warning that Ben Stein's comments on the debt crisis were coming after the commercial break.

Then he shocked me. He credited Clinton with balancing the budget, and described Trickle Down as "Voodoo economics" and said that we expected to have our cake and eat it too. He then acknowledged that Bush pushed the deficit to record highs.

What happened to our old freeper? You expect people to be able to see the obvious, but it still surprises you when they do.

[Poll_Blind]

1. He's still Nixonian at heart (you can even see him crying in footage of Nixon's resignation) BUT..

...the ideological coup taking place in the House, Senate and Presidency is to the right of Nixonian ideals.

PB

[tibbiit]

3. I'd take nixon today in a heartbeat over

any other repuke. We need semi-sane opposition,. Our country is imo irretrievably broken. tib

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. Nixon would be booted by today's GOP. Too liberal.

SALT? social Security? china? EPA?

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Nixon was willing to fight dirty, though, they wouldn't have stood up to him

I disagree with almost everything Nixon did in office, but the guy was a hell of a politician.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. John Dean, another Nixon alumni, has criticized how the republican/tea party has

been trying to extra-democratic methods to get legislation enacted that never would have been passed while holding the debt ceiling hostage.

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. Some of the brain cells must have grown back.

I guess if you use enough Visine...

[rurallib]

5. Must be affecting his pocketbook. Seems to be the only thing

ever gets a freeper's attention.

[47of74]

9. You're probably right

It's affecting him personally, which is the only thing that doddering fuck gives a damn about.

[Kolesar]

14. That's a thinker! eom

[SpiralHawk]

19. Yes. If it whacks them in their own pocket, they sometimes have to admit the lies they live under

...and begrudging acknowledge that they have been played for SUCKERS by RepubliCorp, Inc.'s Puppetmasters.

Strong is the stench of deliberate Republicon lies.

[Greybnk48]

6. I don't trust the effing old snake.

He's a long term neocon, and don't ever forget it. He's from the Al Coulter camp.

[RagAss]

7. I'd take Nixon as a dictator right now !!!!!!!

[Fleshdancer]

11. He's smart enough to see the dangers of catering to the tea party idiots

I rarely agree with him, but I still consider him to be an intellectual...something that is currently frowned upon by today's GOP.

[classof56]

12. A rightie relative forwarded me one of "those" e-mails the other day.

It was Ben Stein's ugly, meanspirited lies about Obama, from being a foreigner to hating whites, blah, blah, blah. I have no respect, regard or use for Stein, but if he was right about the current "deficit crisis", good on him. You know what they say about stopped clocks...

Tired Old Cynic

[Courtesy Flush]

15. I'm no fan of Stein, but...

don't assume he, or George Carlin, or Andy Rooney, actually said anything that a forwarded email claims to quote him on.

[classof56]

24. Good point! I'll check that out. Would love to do a reply all with the truth--

That it's bogus and BS never said that BS. Thanks for the reminder!

[Courtesy Flush]

13. Here's the link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7375118n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

[DaveofCali]

16. This shows that they KNOW the TRUTH yet...

...they keep on towing the line until moments like this make them come out quite candidly about the truth about their party and ideologies.

Nothing new, just further confirmation about that though.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. when Stein starts making sense...

you know the shit is bad.

[Courtesy Flush]

23. My thoughts exactly

That's why I was so shocked.

[ebayfool]

18. Yet he couldn't resist at the end ...

'this debt/crisis is the fault of both parties' - only attempt at bipartisanship I've ever seen from him, blaming both parties.

Even after admitting all that you listed! I wonder what brought all this on? Mebbe when an unbalanced person goes insane, he gets flashes (however brief!) of lucidity?

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Yep panic is setting in in DC

They have a monster they can't control. It was fun until these guys made it so bad that they are shitting in the carpet.

[Iggo]

21. He's out of money?

:shrug:

[BiggJawn]

22. He forgot to swap his T-bills for Saudi Dinars? n/t