Once again this Sunday, we were treated to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels hoping the audience forgets about the fact that he was George W. Bush's budget director. This week he was blaming President Obama for not properly cleaning up the mess he helped to leave him, and trivializing how bad it was as well.

When Wallace asked him about the Obama administration's argument that that he inherited a mess from George W. Bush, here's part of how Daniels responded:

DANIELS: First of all, the president did inherit a mess but it's not the first time it's ever happened. He's done less with the mess than anyone else ever did. Ronald Reagan inherited a bigger one and had a roaring economy already by this stage.

H/t to our regular Sunday show commenter Mugsy for pointing out why that's not true:

1: Unemployment rose only 1% Carter's last year in office. Under Bush, unemployment rose nearly 3% (2.9%) his last 11 months.

2: Carter added just $200B to the National Debt (22%). Bush added 45% (almost doubling the Debt).

3: Carter came in on the heels of the Ford Recession, which was more severe than what Reagan inherited from Carter.

4: By October of Reagan's SECOND year in office, unemployment peaked at 10.8%.

5: Republicans swept into Congress in 2010 promising "jobs, jobs, jobs". Now in 2012, they are criticizing "the president's economic polices" for the struggling economy. How do they then make the case for their own reelection?

Daniels also ignores the fact that Republicans in the Congress have done everything in their power to either obstruct or water down any stimulus or efforts to get Americans back to work at every turn and at the state level Republican governors have been laying off government workers and busting their unions and helping to make the unemployment numbers worse, but they want to lay this all on the feet of the current administration. Daniels was also touting the Paul Ryan budget as a better solution to fix the economy than anything the administration has proposed, which as we've covered here again and again is nothing but another tax giveaway for the rich and Wall Street paid for by the working class.

Transcript below the fold.

WALLACE: Let's turn to the economy, which you touched on earlier and where it is right now. There seemed to be signs for last few months that the economy and the recovery was picking up, more jobs were being created each month. The employment rate was steadily coming down.

But now, in the last month, there seems to be a sense from a variety of signs -- job creation, housing -- that the recovery is stalling.

What's your sense of where the national economy is now?

DANIELS: That it's stalling and it never had much momentum. Even when consumption seem to be going up, if you look one level deeper, people were digging in savings to make those purchases. Last year, income in America rose slower than inflation. People actually lost purchasing power. You know, our state happens to be one where the workforce is growing, but all around us there are states, Chris, where people have simply given up looking for work. Everyone now knows if we had the same size workforce we had when this all started, unemployment as reported would be 11 percent. Not 8.x.

So, you know, this is still a very tough slog in most of America. And honestly, I can't name one thing that this administration has done that hasn't leaned against jobs and against growth. So, to that extent -- to the extent national policy has an affect, it's not really a surprise.

WALLACE: Well, let me pick up on that, though. What about the Obama argument that he inherited a mess from George W. Bush, and that if Romney gets in to office and enacts the policies he's espousing, that he will simply return us to that mess?

Governor Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan's budget. In principle, Ryan cuts tax rates for the rich without specifying which loopholes he would close. Ryan cuts nondefense discretionary spending by 19 percent in 2014, which the Obama campaign says would mean major cuts in Head Start, medical research and healthcare for the poor.

So, how about the Obama argument, what Romney will do is give tax cuts to the rich and spending cuts to the poor and the middle class?

DANIELS: First of all, the president did inherit a mess but it's not the first time it's ever happened. He's done less with the mess than anyone else ever did. Ronald Reagan inherited a bigger one and had a roaring economy already by this stage.

This is the weakest recovery, at least in the post-war period, if not ever, given the depth of the recession that we were in. With regard to how we get out of it, you can start by saying we couldn't do worse than the policy mix of this president -- gigantic new spending, gigantic new taxes, a takeover of 18 percent or 19 percent of the economy in the Obamacare bill. Anything would be better than that.

Now, with regard to the Ryan budget, it's certainly a much better starting point than what we have now. Yes, fill in the blanks. Yes, let's describe exactly where or at least the extent to which the tax loophole should be closed.

But you know, the president -- apparently, nothing in his life has acquainted him with where jobs and wealth come from. He has no ear at all for the small business of this country. They're the ones on the receiving end of all of his new taxes. And, you know, frankly, I guess he never is going to get it.