Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk - the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.
And I don't just mean politicians. Did you notice the U-turn many political commentators and other Serious People made when the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal was announced? One day deficits were the great evil and we needed fiscal austerity now now now, never mind the state of the economy. The next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the prospect of more to come, was the greatest thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship.
Still, it was the politicians - and, yes, that mainly meant Republicans - who took the lead on the hypocrisy front.
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