Is George Allen a BIG FAT LIAR?

Evidently, YES. This is why PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times, rocks! In the November 5th Richmond Times Dispatch, former U.S. Senator George Allen stated in his op-ed that since Barack Obama became President on January 9, 2009, the National Debt has exploded by nearly $6 trillion. To read the entire op-ed, click here.

Because of that stated-as-fact dollar figure by Allen, PolitiFact did what they do best and check the veracity and accuracy of the claim. The result was an unequivocal rating of FALSE. PolitiFact found that,

"According to the U.S. Treasury, the total national debt as of Jan. 31, 2009 -- 11 days after President Obama took office -- was $10.6 trillion. So, in order for Allen’s claim to be true on its face, the current publicly held debt would have to be about $16.6 trillion.

Well, is it?

Nope, not even close. The publicly held debt as of Oct. 31 was $13.7 trillion, almost $3 trillion short of Allen’s claim."

So, where did the former U.S. Senator from Virginia get this number, or for that matter his information? It seems he was citing a CBS News report on October 18, 2010 by White House Correspondent, Mark Knoller, where he states,

"The Debt increased $4.9 trillion during President Bush's two terms. The Administration has projected the National Debt will soar in Mr. Obama's fourth year in office to nearly $16.5-trillion in 2012. That's more than 100 percent of the value of the nation's economy and $5.9-trillion above what it was his first day on the job."

Now, there's nothing good about having all this DEBT.  But, you'd think that when Congressional Republicans have a 52% disapproval rating (Democrats are at 53% disapproval according to the Election Day Exit Polls), being honest and getting your facts correct before making eye-popping claims like this would be important to someone that might be running for statewide office, again.

I guess the only positive thing out of the PolitiFact fact-check on Allen is they didn't give him a rating of "Pants on Fire" False. 

Image found at:  http://www.nrc.nl/multimedia/archive/00046/Senator_George_Allen_46686d.jpg

GOP stuck in campaign mode, signalling they haven't learned anything

If the Sunday morning Talk Shows are any indication of the GOP's plan for governing (at least from the U.S. House of Representatives), they haven't learned a thing.  Time after time Sunday morning, GOP House Leaders were pushed to provide specifics on what their plan was for balancing the budget and cutting the deficit.  All they could say was "repeal Obamacare and cut spending."  But what exactly? 

Then there's this bit from the likely incoming House Finance Chair, Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL), warning of a potential "mass exodus" from U.S. Banks if the Volcker Rule is fully implemented. 

According to the letter Bachus sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as reported by CNN,...

"If the Volcker Rule's prohibitions are expansively interpreted and rigidly implemented against U.S. institutions while other nations refuse to adopt them, the damage to U.S. competitiveness and job creation could be substantial."

So, in other words we need to keep the Banks at the pre-2008 Great Recession regulatory status, which is more or less UNREGULATED with no separation between Commercial and Traditional banks. 

All this could just be placating to the incoming Tea Party "Caucus", but then again it could mean they have learned nothing from the economic and regulatory history they heavily shaped over the last 30 years.