Hillary's prison break

Greenspan was the leader of the bank-robbing gang, she insists:

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said "outrageous" advice from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan helped create record U.S. budget deficits that put national security at risk...

"I served on the budget committee in the Senate, and I remember as vividly as if it were yesterday when we had a hearing in which Alan Greenspan came and justified increasing spending and cutting taxes, saying that we didn't really need to pay down the debt -- outrageous in my view," she said.

Though she did not give a date, that hearing must have taken place during the presidency of George W. Bush...

The naivete of the press is almost endearing sometimes. So innocent. So trusting. I'm sure I'm not the only one who suspects that Clinton's memory of "that hearing [that] must have taken place" under GWB is just as "vivid" as that of her Bosnia trip. But the press? They are fully willing to believe that Alan Greenspan* sat before a senate committee and through the Saruman-like power of his voice convinced a skeptical congress to spend money they did not have. Congress would never do such a thing without evil counsel.

The sad thing is that Hillary is perfectly correct about the debt, making a point I have made literally for years. China's owning of trillions of our debt gives them leverage over our foreign policy** and that is a very, very bad thing.  I'm glad Hillary finally understands the national security need to get our spending under control.

So it is perhaps ironic that she said all these very true things while sitting in front of a senate committee, which she has just accused of being hoodwinked by the evil Alan Greenspan, while asking them to spend even more money on her department.


* Whom I am not excusing from blame in any way.  Greenspan is as responsible as anyone for the mess in which we find ourselves. But convincing politicians to spend money against their better judgment is something he was singularly unable to do, if only because they have no better judgment.
** though perhaps not as much as having her husband*** in the White House in the first place *cough* Johnny Chung *cough*.
*** who re-appointed Greenspan twice, FWIW.