Representative Steve Austria (R-OH) has the skinny on FDR: the man apparently was a time-traveler. The Columbus Post Dispatch at least called Rep. Austria on his "minor" revisionist history when he said this:
"When (President Franklin) Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression," Austria said. "He tried to borrow and spend, he tried to use the Keynesian approach, and our country ended up in a Great Depression. That's just history."
"That's just history." Ohh...Kay!! Most historians, myself included, date the beginning of the Great Depression at or shortly after the stock-market crash of 1929; Roosevelt took office in 1933, which was the worst point in the depression, more than 15 million Americans—one-quarter of the nation’s workforce—were unemployed. Keynes didn't publish his book until 1936, as a reaction to and solution for the Great Depression. The New Deal (as it was to be re-named) began under President Hoover, NOT Roosevelt. Roosevelt was governor of New York at the time. To stem the tide of the Depression and save money, the Republicans in the House came within one vote of all but disbanding the US Army in 1940, even with a War raging in Europe?
Is he serious? Was he just repeating or testing talking points (read: lies) told as part of the Neo-Conservatives recent attempts to undermine President Obama? Repeat a lie, even a stupid one enough times and he hopes his constituents in Ohio will believe him? Is he so dismissive of the people he serves? I know BeaverCreek. I spent a lot of time around the Brookville area and these people are solidly republican, hard working and smart! I would be so completely insulted if I were his constituent, Republican or Democrat. Are Americans really so ignorant of such recent US History that they wouldn't, en mass, call him on this?? Am I out of step? Would this pass the smell test?
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