NewsBusters readers know that one of my guilty pleasures is exposing Bill Maher's lack of knowledge on subjects he pompously pounds the table about.
On Tuesday evening, Maher gave me a doozy when he wrote on Facebook, "Wow, what a shameless liar this Marco Rubio guy is - Obama created more debt than Bush? Well, if you don't believe in science, why not math too?"
In it he said, "The President loves to blame the debt on President Bush. But President Obama created more debt in four years than his predecessor did in eight."
Maher apparently doesn't agree with this.
What's funny about this is Maher has recently been running an online ad for his HBO Real Time program wherein he repeatedly talks about "the facts."
With this in mind, let's go to TreasuryDirect.gov and find "the facts."
On January 19, 2001, the day before George W. Bush was sworn in, the total federal debt to the penny was $5,727,776,738,304.64.
On January 20, 2009, the day Bush left office and Barack Obama was sworn in, the debt to the penny was $10,626,877,048,913.08.
As such, under Bush, the debt rose by $4.899 trillion.
As of January 18, 2013, the debt stands at $16,432,619,424,703.06.
As such, in Obama's first four years in office, the debt rose $5.806 trillion.
Those are "the facts" directly from the Treasury's website.
Of course, Maher - like so many in the media - blames much of Obama's debt on Bush's recession, wars, and tax cuts.
But presidents - at least most prior to Obama - don't get to blame their budgets on their predecessors.
If that were the case, Bush's total debt should be reduced given the fact that he inherited a recession from Bill Clinton as well as a massive shortfall in tax revenues when the stock bubble burst.
But folks like Maher don't consider such things. This makes too much sense.
Adding to this is the fact that Obama as Senator voted for Bush's final budget. He then voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008 and signed as President the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009.
Both measures exploded spending under Bush's final budget completely with Obama's approval.
Despite what folks such as Maher claim, Obama's fingerprints are all over every single penny of debt created in 2009 and thereafter.
In the end, Obama's media - including of course Maher - have done everything in their power since the current White House resident was inaugurated to shield him from any criticism.
All the problems in the world including the almost $6 trillion in debt expansion the last four years are Bush's fault.
Will Obama ever be responsible for any of the ills of the nation during his presidency?
Not if people such as Maher have their way.
(HT NB reader Ryan Kratz)
