policies? if the kind of spending that we ve seen in the last year and a half were the case, absolutely. but i don t think that s likely to have been the case. what s happened, chris, is that the overspending has accelerated. not simply that it existed back in the bush years, of course it did. but then it got worse. so that s where it started, now it s expanded. well part of the problem, sir, and you know as well as i do, we all study kensyn economics. this president was hit by a what could have been a second great depression, that s just my argument. we could have been in worse shape. that s my argument. i accept yours, you were very well spoken tonight. thank you for explaining your cause, i think there s a lot more crazy thinking in your crowd than you re willing to admit. but that s based upon the poll data we have tonight. that s your wishful thinking, chris. well it s the new york times poll. maybe that s the same thing. thank you, ryan hecker and colin
let me go to ryan hecker on that. ryan, why do you need a separate party if you ve got the republican party if your philosophy is the same? i think, i think first of all there ra lot of independents, a very high percentage of independents involved as well. and i would say that you know, we represent a limited government. group of people that support the constitution. and believe in good governance and transparency, which i think is an overwhelming majority of americans. aren t you guys with john boehner and mitch mcconnell, the republican leadership? what are your problems with them? i mean, i think the problems of the movement as a whole are you know, i don t think it s against any one politician or one elected official. i think it was just a general sense that the, that back in october, they were no longer representing necessarily the proxy of what people felt ideologically on the economic conservative front. and chris, primarily it s
problem. but you add all of these things up together, and you project them out into the future. and you re in a situation where you re not only going to have federal debt exceeding the annual gross domestic product of the country, but you re going to have a federal deficit that is unprecedented. you re going to have federal spending well north of 25% of the total gdp. and those things become simply a bridge too far. they become financially unsustainable, chris. that s a good argument, that s a good argument. i like that argument. were you making that kind of argument, sir, under president bush when he doubled the national debt? actually, yes. we didn t hear you, we didn t see any protests like today in washington. let s go to ryan. you re out in the streets there with all of these people. why weren t you there when bush was here, doubling the national debt? not vetoing a single spending bill for eight years. taking us to iraq. by the way, i don t think a lot of libertarians thoug
iraq was a great national enterprise, by the way. i ll bet a lot of people behind you think it was the stupidest war we ever fought. but that s just my thinking. where were you guys when bush was here? well we were there. i think what happened was, i mean it was october 2008. when t.a.r.p. was passed, that the entire, you know, kind of frustration about republicans rose to a real height. and i think that the automobile bailout, and then the takeover and then the stimulus package really drove us out onto the streets in protest. so i think that there was a rumbling during you know, during, i think it s a nonpartisan movement and there was a rumbling during bush that really peaked with the stimulus package. gentlemen, one last question, yes or no. if john mccain had won the election in november of 2008, you fellows would be right where you are right now with the tea party just as mad as held. you, first, colin and then ryan. you d be just as mad if mccain
you think it was the stupidest war we ever fought. but that s just my thinking. what do you think? where were you guys when bush was here? well we were there. i think what happened was, i mean it was october 2008. when t.a.r.p. was passed, that the entire, you know, kind of frustration about republicans rose to a real height. and i think that the automobile bailout, and then the takeover and then the stimulus package really drove us out onto the streets in protest. so i think that there was a rumbling during you know, during, i think it s a nonpartisan movement and there was a rumbling during bush that really peaked with the stimulus package. exactly. frs gentlemen, one last question, yes or no. if john mccain had won the election in november of 2008, you fellows would be right where you are right now with the tea party, just as mad as hell. you, first, colin and then ryan. you d be just as mad if mccain had won, continuing the bush