Tommy Christopher over at Mediaite caught this gem with NBC's Tom Brokaw playing the good little Republican water carrier and trying to blame the problem with our huge deficit on President Obama -- Tom Brokaw Says President Obama Must Answer For
October 14, 2012

Tommy Christopher over at Mediaite caught this gem with NBC's Tom Brokaw playing the good little Republican water carrier and trying to blame the problem with our huge deficit on President Obama -- Tom Brokaw Says President Obama Must Answer For $1.1 Trillion Deficit ‘That Happened On His Watch’:

On Sunday morning’s Meet The Press, legendary newsman Tom Brokaw joined moderator David Gregory in evening out the “specifics” narrative that has dogged Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by demanding that President Obama give more details about his plan to control the deficit and debt. Brokaw said that in a 2008 debate, then-Senator Obama “was saying, ‘Look, we’ve got a deficit of a half a trillion dollars. I’m going to get that under control.’ Well, this week that deficit is $1.1 trillion and it happened on his watch. He’s going to have to answer to that.”

By the time President Obama took office, however, he was handed a $1.017 trillion deficit by President George W. Bush. [...]

The half-trillion dollar deficit that President Obama was referring to, however, was for the fiscal year ending in September of 2007. The deficit for FY 2008 was $1,017,071. That still leaves President Obama’s promise to “get that under control” arguably unfulfilled, but also dramatically alters the terrain of that argument.

I would add to that, what Brokaw is also completely ignoring is just whose policies have added to the deficit, and as this chart displays, you can place the bulk of that squarely in Bush's lap as well -- Adding to the deficit: Bush vs. Obama.

Transcript below the fold.

GREGORY: This issue, Tom, the-- the issue of the debt, the issue of taxes, I think it’s important to get to one of the big issues here. We have got to in these final few weeks, try to reach some resolution about this revenue issue whether we raise revenue to deal with the debt because whether it’s Medicare or whether it’s dealing with the debt level at the level that it’s at, without agreement on both sides, we’re not going to be able to tackle some of these more difficult issues, Tom.

MR. BROKAW: You know, I think that both campaigns have failed to say to the American public this is going to be hard. This is a real crisis in America. You look at the IMF projections about where the global economy is now. They’re saying you got to get your act together. We could be in another recession next year at this time. They’ve got to level with the American people about everyone’s going to have to give something. And there is going to have to be some revenue raised at some point as well. I do think that the governor is right and we’ll expect to hear Governor Romney go after President Obama this time about I want more details about your plan. You keep harping on me. I haven’t heard the details in your plan as well. I looked at that debate that we talked about a moment ago, it was playing last night on C-SPAN, and governor, now President-- now President Obama was saying look, we’ve got a deficit of half a trillion dollars. I’m going to get that under control. Well, this week that deficit is 1.1 trillion dollars and it happened on his watch. He’s going to have to answer for that.

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