Monday, August 29, 2011

Three reality based charts you can use to shut that Right Winger in your family up for good. Assuming of course that they understand charts.

Courtesy of The Smirking Chimp:



Notes, this chart includes Clinton's last budget year for comparison. 

People who claim that Obama "tripled the deficit" are either misled or are trying to mislead.

And finally a chart that many of us may seen once or twice before in the past, but on that still remains quite relevant and informative.


Yes I know that for most of these ignorant knuckle-draggers, even making the numbers in the form of a pretty picture will not convince them that all of the country's ills are not solely the responsibility of the Islamic Socialist anti-white racist currently living in the White House.

But hey at least you can give it a shot. I mean somebody has to start somewhere, don't they?

40 comments:

  1. I'm opposed to many of Obama's policies, but these charts speak for themselves. We're in far, far better hands under this administration than would be the case of a McC-P one.

    When he starts prosecuting American war criminals, banksters and environmental pirates, and uses executive orders to jump start a sustainable green long-range economy, and stops his war on whistleblowers and wikileaks, I will go back to backing him as fervently as I once did.

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  2. Anonymous3:46 PM

    Gryphen,
    Please add a chart of how many illegal aliens have been deported--compare the 2 admins, Obama's administration has already beat out GWB's 8 yrs.

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  3. Anonymous3:47 PM

    Gryphen,
    The extremist right doesn't care about facts, they are too busy ironing their white hoods and robes.


    Little Rabbit
    (ducking as I fear the palinlike armload of cans aimed at me)

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  4. Anonymous4:01 PM

    Yabut... charts are BORING...

    And the lies of the right amaze and fascinate.

    Oh look!! Bright shiny thing!!

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  5. Anonymous4:04 PM

    Here's a bulletin for ya Phil Munger, your 'fervent support' is way too conditional to have any sort of authenticity.

    I suspect that it mostly just doesn't amount to a hill of beans. You spend more time tearing him down than ever acknowledging his amazing accomplishments, so as far as I'm concerned, you lost ANY credibility a long time ago and there are MANY on this blog who will agree with me.

    When you act like Sarah Palin, lobbing nasty shit at our president from your pitiful blog, and even pollute other people's blogs with your pervasive negativity, you simply stop being relevant.

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  6. Anonymous4:22 PM

    It's way past time we stop comparing presidencies. The point critics make today is, spending has not stopped and no measures are being taken to better the current situation. It's getting worse.

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  7. Anon 4:04, I agree with you that Obama's "supporters" need to get their asses in gear to see that we get the people elected that he needs to continue accomplishing the things we want. Apparently they would prefer to just be petty whiners because he didn't turn out to be the "Second Coming...". He is fighting for every damn thing he accomplishes, and we have a responsibility to fight for these things as well.

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  8. angela4:47 PM

    Anon 4:22
    Is there a learning disability you are not admitting to?

    The chart tells you how SPENDING is not getting worse . . . . you poor fool. And it is valid to compare presidencies when George W Bush got us into this mess, destroyed the Clinton surplus and literally put us into two wars that were not even financially supported by taxes or even budgeted for.

    You know in your heart the current administration inherited this mess from W; but actually being an apologist for the Bush moron is pretty pitiful.

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  9. Anonymous5:04 PM

    Joe McGinniss has given Gryphen a shout out (in red letters) on his blog. The blog deals poor Tripp who looks unhappy appearing in Bristol's reality show. We can argue about whether Bristol should use Tripp as a prop, the way that Sarah used Trig. (And Joe describes how he saw Trig on an asphalt driveway amid cigarette butts and other dirt. He was a witness. It's in the book. Watch out, Sarah!).

    I suggest that if Tripp is going to be a little TV star, he is subject to the same child labor laws as the rest of the industry's TV and movie kids. You guys in Alaska may be pretty easy about child abuse, but in California, they are very tough about how long a little kid appears under the hot lights and on camera. It's called "working," and there are rules.

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  10. Anonymous5:12 PM

    Thank you, Gryphen.

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  11. I am highly impressed by the deficit chart. If not for Obama, we would not have reduced our deficit. Thank God he figured out a way to do it.

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  12. I compare the accomplishments of the Bush administration to the Obama administration because that is the data available. And since there is NO indication that any of the GOP candidates will do anything differently I believe it is appropriate to do so.

    Unless of course somebody knows something I don't know.

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  13. God bless you, Gryphen.

    Now, where is the MSM, the voices of gravitas?

    Agree with you that many tea baggers would be hard-pressed to make heads or tails out of these charts, but television journalists should be able to remember or at least refer to these charts when discussing outlandish GOP claims (aka lies).

    Asking our media to have a longer memory than their viewers doesn't seem to be too much to ask, and yet it seems to be a hurdle too high for 99% of our "impartial" news media.

    What's stopping Dems from using these charts as a swift blowback to GOP lies? It's like you and (most) of your readers are lonely voices in the wilderness, which are ignored by our elected representatives and media.

    Frustrating, but thank you (once again) for posting and clearly explaining.

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  14. Anonymous5:52 PM

    4:04, no need to be so rude to Phil. He is entitled to his opinion.

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  15. Perhaps it is important to continue to post this kind of information, so those of us who know Obama is working on the behalf of those who are struggling and doing what he can about our economy can see this and continue to support him.

    As far as anyone else is concerned, facts like these can be manipulated. It's scary. So, how do I even know this is the truth?

    I grew up in an era where we believed yellow journalism was over, what was a fact was a fact, now how do we know? I think that is the scariest part of all right now.

    I grew up caring for others, and thinking people around me did as well, and wow, did I find out differently. Today there were people on the sidewalk of our tiny NW town, with a table of info surrounded by posters of Obama as Hitler again...I don't see Democrats out there doing this (myself included). Amazingly on Sundays, on one intersection, we have the Repubs on one side and the Dems on the other...and I wonder, to what purpose?

    I only started voting myself about 10 years ago...politics held no interest whatsoever and I worry a lot about the saturation of misinformation, what that will do to the 2012 election...

    From what I hear, bloggers like you Gryphen (and your dedication to getting the truth out there) is huge right now in the fight against the right-wing garbage. So thank you for all your effort...

    I would be interested in a survey of the age of your readership...for the record, I am just over 50.

    Have you ever thought about going to speak at colleges...guess that would take $...we need to find more ways to reach young people and get them to understand the importance of the vote.

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  16. Ezra Klein (major domestic policy wonk at the Washington Post) sent two tweets as I was commenting on this thread a little while ago:

    1) "I keep seeing tweeps say social security is "unsustainable." The shortfall is 0.7% of GDP over the next 75 years. [1/2]"
    2) "We may or may not want to sustain it at current benefit levels. But it's certainly possible to do so. Just a matter of priorities."
    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    Republicans have NEVER cared about deficits. It's only been important to Dems, but for whatever reason, Dems seem incapable of defending their positions.

    Media needs to inform themselves and tell Americans the truth instead of parroting GOP lies as "reporting the news."

    Tweet URLs
    http://twitter.com/#!/ezraklein/status/108351055661776896
    http://twitter.com/#!/ezraklein/status/108351281697009664

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  17. I know some people are going to read this incorrectly:

    Today there were people on the sidewalk of our tiny NW town, with a table of info surrounded by posters of Obama as Hitler again...I don't see Democrats out there doing this (myself included).

    What I meant was, that I don't see Dems on the sidewalk really advocating Obama...and I don't think I could be the one doing it either...it seems confrontational and somewhat scary to be putting yourself out there. I live in a very conservative community, not quite the % of churches per capita as Wasilla, but close!, which is in itself pretty awful...but stuck here for a while due to divorce requirements, etc...

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  18. eSkaeP wrote:

    "I don't see Democrats out there doing this (myself included).

    "What I meant was, that I don't see Dems on the sidewalk really advocating Obama..."

    You won't see Democrats and Independents out there in 2012 for Obama like you did in 2008. Not me, and not thousands of my truly progressive friends who also supported him in the 2008 campaign. I may end up voting for him, but my $$$ and time will go to support candidates I feel I can trust.

    You are right that it takes courage to go out and demonstrate or picket. As an example, over 300 people, over a dozen of them friends of mine, have been arrested - almost 200 of them jailed - for demonstrating outside of the White House this past week against the Keystone XL oil shale pipeline, the decision for which is 100% in the hands of Obama. If the pipeline is approved, the Canadian oil shale discoveries will be mainlined. As Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, has stated, "If President Obama OK's this pipeline, it is 'game over!' for going beyond the CO2 threshold in the atmosphere."

    Each day, new wikileaks cables detail war crimes committed, not just under the Bush administration, but under this one. Looking at how this is happening, it is structural in the sense that Obama inherited a culture that allowed it.

    But with the creation of the Somali torture factory, the Obama administration has shown he is 100% committed to continuing the legacy of war crimes, torture, and state secrecy that is destroying the soul of the USA.

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  19. Anonymous7:18 PM

    There's a "leaked" email going around on Facebook that is supposed to be Karl Rove telling his minions to make sure they post on blogs like this one, acting as if they are liberals, but are all disappointed in President Obama.

    Whether or not it is a true item, I smell a rat quite often, in statements I read here and elsewhere.

    Sure, it'd have been GREAT to have Obama get it ALL done, in the short time he's had, but guess what?

    HE MET WITH OPPOSITION FROM EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN, AND EVEN SOME DEMOCRATS, in every stinking thing he tried to do.

    When you view the list of stuff that DID make it through, miraculously, it is staggering.

    If we work hard enough to get HIM back in, plus some Democrats to take the place of the witches and goblins who got in last year when nobody but the Teabaggers voted, he should be able to REALLY get to work.

    With no distraction of having to worry about getting re-elected, he can be a lot pushier.

    If the rightwingers think of him as the "uppity" one NOW, just wait.

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  20. Anonymous7:28 PM

    Keep posting these type of charts, Gryphen!

    My T-bag relatives send me crazy mis-information emails every week, so I appreciate concrete evidence that Obama is patching up the ship of state as best he can.

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  21. Anonymous8:06 PM

    Yeah Baby! SPIN THIS C of PEE!

    Sarah the Loser, Defeated, Quitter Skank Queen is pulling in the BIG numbers now! LOL! She may want to rethink her little Iowa jaunt this weekend...

    *** 90% *** of Republicans Say They Won’t Support Sarah Palin

    As Sarah Palin gets set to head to Iowa this weekend, and new CNN poll released today found that only 10% of Republicans would support a Sarah Palin 2012 candidacy.

    The CNN poll revealed that Rick Perry now has all of the Republican momentum. He now has a 14 point lead over Mitt Romney (32%-18%). Michele Bachmann has settled in at 12% support, and the rest of the declared field is mired in single digits.

    The dynamics of the race didn’t change when Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani were added to the mix. With Palin in the race, Perry still led Romney by a nearly 2 to 1 margin (27%-14%). Sarah Palin would replace Bachmann in third at 10%, and the Minnesota congresswoman would fall to fourth at 9%. Third place sounds like an okay debut for Palin, but she has lost 3% of Republican support in a bit more than a month, while at the same time, Rick Perry has gained 13 points.

    The most interesting element of the CNN poll is that it provides some insight into who Sarah Palin’s supporters are. Sarah Palin is third with Republican women at 13%. She is ahead of Bachmann by 3, but trails Rick Perry by 10 and Mitt Romney by 2. Palin only gets 8% support with men, and 10% support with whites. Palin attracted 14% of the support of people age 50-64, but she still trailed Rick Perry by 20 points with her age group. Oddly, Sarah Palin only attracted 2% of Republican seniors, while Rick Perry attracted 26% and Mitt Romney got 20%.

    Sarah Palin got 14% of the support of those Republicans who make under $50,000, and 10% of the support of those who make over $50,000. Palin’s was supported by 16% of those who didn’t attend college. She trailed Perry by six points with non-college grads. Palin only drew 8% of the support of conservatives, and trailed Rick Perry by 18 points (31%-13%) in her best region, the South.

    Sarah Palin doesn’t lead any of the Republican field with any demographic or region. The only thing that Sarah Palin would accomplish if she entered the race would be to weaken Michele Bachmann. These are the facts, yet no one should be surprised if the cable news networks (I’m looking at you CNN) fire up the hype machine and start playing the will she or won’t she game. It will be Labor Day weekend, and the cable news networks will need something to fill up the 24/7 news cycle with. It won’t matter to them if the story of a potential Sarah Palin candidacy is completely preposterous. They’ll run with it anyway.

    67% of voters already said that they would never vote for Sarah Palin, and now 90% of Republicans aren’t going to support her. Sarah Palin’s Iowa teabagapoolza can’t change the fact that 90% of Republicans will never go along with the idea of a President Palin.

    Republicans may love Rick Perry, and they just aren’t that into Sarah Palin.

    http://www.politicususa.com/en/republicans-no-sarah-palin

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  22. Anonymous8:21 PM

    eSkaeP

    I am 49, biracial( white and Native American) woman raised in NE Mn. I am educated, 3 degrees and currently my husband ( a white cajun raised baptist) own 4 separate businesses.
    I was raised in a very politically active household by strong progressive democratic parents. I was active in politics before I could vote and have never missed an election, in fact one yr I left the hospital with our newborn daughter and stopped to vote on the way home.
    I have volunteered for political candidates and the democratic party from city counsel person, mayor, state offices, and national offices. And I WILL be volunteering for the Obama campaign fulltime for the last six months before the 2012 nov election.

    Little Rabbit

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  23. Anonymous8:22 PM

    Anon 4:04

    You have to remember, Phil is part of what I call a Firedogger. They're habitual bitchers & whiners.

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  24. Anonymous8:42 PM

    If you were getting caught up in the negative media spin...

    http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/08/29/130.poll.pdf

    It's gonna be a landslide.

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  25. You elitists think you're so so smart.

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  26. Oops. I've forgotten Poe's Law, haven't I?

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  27. Seriously now, we all know Obama could have done better--if he was god.

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  28. Anonymous9:03 PM

    I don't usually like watching Ed Schultz, but noticed he did a segment of Gov Christie.

    He commended Christie for his appearance on TV saying that FEMA Works!! Giving credit to FEMA for working well, doing their job, teamwork.

    Then Schultz bitch-slapped him for degrading government workers, going after their wages, benefits, etc.

    I loved that Ed announced it now disqualifies Christie from running!!

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#44322267

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  29. Hey Phil Munger... do you think FDR the war criminal should be posthumously prosecuted for his crimes in warfare? I'm not talking about the development of "The Bomb" by the way, I'm talking about his ordered slaughter of French Norman civilians, against which even Winston Churchill attempted to rebel.

    Sanctimony must feel so nice!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81TuC_r7ZD0

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  30. "You have to remember, Phil is part of what I call a Firedogger."

    I'm proud to be called a firebagger. I've been one for over six years. You can call me that to my face as well as behind my back. I'll probably smile and offer you my hand.

    "They're habitual bitchers & whiners".

    === please cite an example of my doing that here. Thanks, uh, anonymous one.

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  31. The Nasty Liberal,

    It makes no sense to exhume FDR - the GOP is disinterring him quite fast, thank you.

    So apparently you have no problem with the increasing attacks on whistleblowers who expose war crimes, the expansion of the black ops torture site or sites near Bagram, the Somali torture program, the expansion of the drone programs in Afghanistan and - especially - Pakistan? All this set up under Obama's direction.

    If you don't have a problem with these policies, why don't you just come out and say it. I think they are intensely immoral and counter-productive actions and policies on top of that.

    I've tried to hold every sitting president to account for the rule of law since I served in the US Army in the 1960s. Every president, no exceptions.

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  32. Anonymous2:02 AM

    For ANYone bellyaching about President Obama, you need to stop a second and consider just how bad things would be, if any of the current crop of those who (laughingly) think they should be the president, actually were.

    (In Mister Rogers' voice)--

    Can you say "apocalypse?"

    I didn't think you could, you dumb cracker.

    (Okay, so its Richard Pryor DOING Mister Rogers)

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  33. Anonymous2:06 AM

    That chart you posted as PDF at 8:42, did you notice buried deep in one of the questions the lack of ANY significant responses from anyone under the age of 50?. One of the survey questions used age as a criteria and N/A was all that was available for the ages between 18 and 49. That tells a story that the GOP better wake up and listen to. Their base is dying, fast, and not being replaced.
    As an aside, several days ago the rag USAToday had a front page story telling a similar tale, minority babies are being born at a faster rate than non-minority babies. Again, the GOP white bread base is dying at the end ages and not being replaced at the beginning.

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  34. Anonymous said...
    It's way past time we stop comparing presidencies. The point critics make today is, spending has not stopped and no measures are being taken to better the current situation. It's getting worse.
    4:22 PM
    ------------------------
    What a stupid thing to say. Did you even look at the charts? Are you capable of analyzing them and reading the background material on them to understand the data behind them?

    There is a clear and obvious difference between the economic policies of the two administrations.

    The economy is definitely improving under this administration.

    And unless you are willing to talk revenue, you have no business blathering on about spending.

    How unfortunate that the moronic, uneducated and proud of it teabaggers that were elected in 2010 know nothing about economics and are unwilling to learn, and were willing to destroy the economy in their dictatorial belief that they are the only branch of government.

    How unfortunate that nearly all Republicans have put their oath to Grover Norquist above their oath to support the constitution.

    How unfortunate that the Republicans have done nothing regarding jobs but have put all of their efforts into depriving citizens of their civil rights and liberties.

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  35. Anonymous5:16 AM

    I think President Obama is doing a great job given the permanent state of tantrum of all of the Republicans in Congress. What we need to do is 1) give the President a good majority win in 2010, 2) retake the House of Representatives from the tea baggers, and 3) hold the Senate and increase the Democratic majority to over 60 senators so they can avoid the ridiculous rule put in place by a Republican Senate under Bush.

    It will be hard work to achieve all three goals but it will be essential work to preserve this country. Democrats cannot afford to be nasty now. You will notice that, once the Republican Party has a candidate in place, they will be one happy very rich family (thanks to corporate dollars) and will campaign as such.

    The worst possible scenario for Democrats and for the country is to have the far left of the Party dig in their heels and whine throughout the next 14 months that not enough has been achieved. If the Democrats lose big in November 2012 it will be the fault of those on the far left who are now in tantrum mode, so much like their Republican pals in Congress.

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  36. Anonymous5:32 AM

    Anon 5:16

    The 'left' baggers think President Obama is their 'personal servant'. When he doesn't listen and do what they want, they throw a tantrum.

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  37. Anonymous5:44 AM

    FYI the first graph doesn't show anything spectacular...you want to look at the slope of the graph, not the cumulative numbers posted...project it out 6 more years and Obama will be right up there too. A flat graph would be maintaining the status quo.

    Think, people, before you argue! Not all Republicans are stupid.

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  38. This is a great way to put it... given Phil Mungers statements... thanks, Anon 5:32:

    The 'left' baggers think President Obama is their 'personal servant'. When he doesn't listen and do what they want, they throw a tantrum.

    We must focus on and present the positive...not dwell on the negative. As I said in my first post here, we don't know for sure what information is true. A good portion of what Munger states is likely to be garbage...so I am taking it that way.

    Democrats have core values, as the Cons think they do...ours are on the side of caring, doing what we can, learning we can't do it all, so having to learn to deal with the realities of life. But you don't give up on someone as strong, and as caring as Obama...as Gryphen continues to share with us again and again.

    I truly appreciate your effort in bringing those posts about Obama on occasion, since we all have limited time and don't see them much on mainstream media.

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  39. And thanks, Little Rabbit, for doing what you do and sharing a little about who you are...

    The nature of the right wing is to shame and claim self-righteousness... it takes an incredible amount of courage to stand up to that and I am working on how to "defend" my positions and appreciate everything posted here that is enabling me to work on that.

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  40. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a troll, but you people are insane! Look at that middle chart--the spending line skyrockets precisely in 2007. 2007!!! You can't just paint a line there and say "Bush" and pretend the entire house--and control over spending--didn't come under complete Democrat control at that precise time.

    Then the deficit line sharply falls off--not recently, not now, but *in the future*. It's a fantasy! You're trumpeting a FUTURE declining deficit based on PRESENT accounting tricks!

    You're not going to shut many people up with these charts. Anybody who's been paying attention is going to laugh at you or humor you.

    ReplyDelete

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