Via Hotline, an excerpt of Fred Thompson's remarks at the Lincoln Club in Orange County:
That's why the economy booms when taxes are cut. When the Kennedy tax cuts were passed in the 1960s, the economy boomed. When Reagan cut taxes in 1981, we went from economic malaise to a new morning in America. And when George Bush cut taxes in 2001, he took a declining economy he inherited to an economic expansion -- despite 9-11, the NASDAQ bubble and corporate scandals.
Notice anything missing in that timeline?
No mention of Reagan's post-1981 tax increases and their impact on the economy. No mention of Bush I's tax increases and the role they played in setting up Clinton's deficit reduction policies. And most importantly, no mention of the economic boom of the mid to late 1990's.
Moreover, it is important to remember that Bush's 2001 tax cuts weren't initially framed as being about economic growth. Instead, Bush argued that he was simply returning part of the massive surplus to the people who had helped create it. The 2001 tax cuts were a response to unprecedented economic growth, not an effort to create it.
People on the right love to compare Thompson to Reagan (yes, I'm talking to you, KLo). In this one respect - their shared ability to manufacture history - I suppose they may be right.
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