Rand Paul Is a Lying Moron

First, government debt and deficit is only a problem when we have inflation. Remember inflation? Way back in 1980? Hello?  Bueller?

Second, thanks to the sequestration austerity that is literally taking food out of the mouths of starving children and denying chemotherapy to cancer patients, the deficit is falling faster than it has in two decades.

Third, the Tribble-Toupeed One doesn't give a flying fuck about facts or truth or the deficit; all he cares about is spreading bullshit that will make the paultards faint from ecstasy.

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

Alas, some folks stick to their old talking points, even when they're now wrong.

Now, this is ordinarily the point at which I note that China owns only a small portion of U.S. debt; large deficits are wise under the economic circumstances; and if Sen. Paul is really eager to reduce the deficit, he should endorse some tax increases.

But putting all of this aside, Rand Paul is using out-of-date math. "We are borrowing $4 billion a day"? Let's see -- there are 365 days in a year ... multiplied by 4 billion ... carry the one ... that means we'll have annual federal budget deficit of over $1.4 trillion.

Except, we won't. The latest CBO estimate says this year's deficit will be $642 billion, down $400 billion from last year, and nearly $800 billion from when President Obama took office. Paul's argument, in other words, isn't even close to being accurate -- we're not borrowing $4 billion a day; we're borrowing less than $2 billion a day.

If the right wants to argue that's still too much, fine. I disagree, but we can at least have a debate. But to use talking points from 2009, as if we have haven't already seen the fastest deficit reduction in modern U.S. history, is absurd. What Rand Paul is telling his followers is simply and demonstrably wrong.

Updating talking points may be annoying, but when the facts change, politicians' rhetoric needs to change with them.