Let us review the use of the POTUS veto, shall we?

George Washington -- 2

John Adams --  0

Thomas Jefferson -- 0

(They sure did get along nicely back then... Actually, no president used the veto more than twelve times [Andrew Jackson] until after the Civil War.)

Andrew Johnson -- 29  (But over half were over-ridden by Congress. Johnson was a widely hated stand-in for the murdered Lincoln, and was the only president impeached by Congress until Bill Clinton managed it 130 years later.)

Ulysses S. Grant -- 93

Grover Cleveland --584  (These were spread over two separated four-year terms as POTUS. This Democrat managed to lead the veto count for a while, thanks to bitter conflicts with factions within his own party and cross-party bitterness.)

Teddy Roosevelt -- 82  (Bully!)

Herber Hoover -- FDR's Republican predecessor, and largely blamed for the Great Depression -- 37, of which only 3 were overturned.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- the president who would be king -- enjoyed unparalleled success during his first two terms as POTUS. But he's still the record veto guy, with 635. Things didn't go quite so smoothly in his later terms.

Harry S. Truman -- 250

Dwight D. Eisenhower -- 181

Gerald Ford -- 66

Ronald Reagan -- 78

George H.W. Bush -- 44

Bill Clinton -- 37

George W. Bush -- 12

It is fact that George W. Bush used his veto power as POTUS less often than any president since the Civil War, with two exceptions. James A. Garfield, with a score of 0 vetoes, was the victim of an assassin't bullet barely four months into his term. And Warren G. Harding, who served just under 29 months before he died in office from natural causes, used his veto only six times.

It is also fact that George W. Bush, thanks to the Democrat-controlled Congress after 2006, posts the third-highest veto override rate in American history -- 33%. Only the hated Andrew Johnson and the ineffectual Andrew Pierce did worse with overrides. Johnson scored 15 overrides for 29 vetoes, 52%. And the hapless Pierce was slightly worse at 5 overrides of 9 vetoes, a 56% override rate.

Quote from: surfer_squirrel on November 26, 2010, 08:34:54 PM
I totally agree with what you are thinking but I don't see that I'm in a position to challenge decisions that Bush made even though I personally disagree with what he did. I'll give you an example:
The chart below shows the deficits for the years of 2003 to 2010. In 2007 the new congress was sworn in with a democratic majority in both houses. While the Iraq spending increased slightly due to the troop surge, the domestic deficit decreased to its lowest point in the 8 year period charted. Notice what happens to the deficit the year after the congressional change and again in 2009 after Obama is POTUS. The deficit sharply increases, on whose watch? Did the democrats do anything to control the deficit? No! Did it start to increase during the time that a democrat congress controlled the spending? Yes. Could Bush have used his veto pen to severely impact the deficit during the time the democrat majority controlled the spending? Maybe, but to what extent?

Wow! Nice graph, SS! You don't quote a source, but it's very powerful.

Help me out on the lag time thing, people....

I'm pretty sure the new Dem class of 2006 -- seated in January 2007 -- had nothing whatever to do with the FY2007 budget, and I'm thinking very little to do with FY2008, right? They absolutely OWN FY2009 and FY2010, along with the collapsing Bush administration, the Obama surge of Democrat congress-critters in 2008, and the incoming Kenyan cabal.

I ain't a budget guy, just an old curmudgeon. Correct as needed, please.  :P :P :P

Sorry. The graph was developed from data provided on the monthly Treasury report annual summaries. You can view the data here . The annual summaries are issued each September for the fed's fiscal year. You can also view the reports on a month-to-month basis. The last couple of years have been real shockers as far as deficit numbers. So much so that the Whitehouse is attempting to have the CBO omit certain deficit entries in order to make the budget look less bleak.

Quote from: surfer_squirrel on November 26, 2010, 11:10:05 PM
Sorry. The graph was developed from data provided on the monthly Treasury report annual summaries. You can view the data here . The annual summaries are issued each September for the fed's fiscal year. You can also view the reports on a month-to-month basis. The last couple of years have been real shockers as far as deficit numbers. So much so that the Whitehouse is attempting to have the CBO omit certain deficit entries in order to make the budget look less bleak.

What are you saying, SS? Are you trying to tell us that our trusted federal government is lying to us, for real and like, on purpose?

Say it ain't so.

OK, it isn't so .................................. damn! my nose is growing! :o

Nice work, surfer.  The graph is very telling.  I can remember the news media and their Democrat bosses having countless hissy-fits over Bush's budget deficits during his eight years as President.

Now that Obama has more than TRIPLED Bush's budget deficits in less than two years, I hear crickets from the news media (except for Fox News Channel and talk radio).

Remember that this graph involves the BUDGET deficits, not the national debt (which is in the $13 trillion range right now).

I WISH we had Bush's budget deficits today.

As of 10/31/10, the following is true:

Quote
       MONTHLY STATEMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT
OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER 31, 2010

TABLE I -- SUMMARY OF TREASURY SECURITIES OUTSTANDING, OCTOBER 31, 2010
(Millions of dollars)
                                                                      Amount Outstanding
Title                                                    Debt Held                 Intragovernmental                   Totals
                                                         By the Public              Holdings
Marketable:
  Bills.......................................                   1,764,088                     4,372                         1,768,460
  Notes.......................................                5,293,330                     3,015                         5,296,345
  Bonds.......................................                   859,206                     3,816                            863,022
  Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.....  604,435                        219                             604,653
  Federal Financing Bank  1  .................                   0                    10,239                              10,239
Total Marketable  a...........................         8,521,058                    21,661 2                      8,542,719
Nonmarketable:
  Domestic Series.............................               29,995                             0                               29,995
  Foreign Series..............................                  4,186                             0                                 4,186
  State and Local Government Series...........195,009                             0                             195,009
  United States Savings Securities............    188,674                             0                            188,674
  Government Account Series...................     129,594               4,576,793                         4,706,387
  Hope Bonds 19...............................                       0                         493                                   493
  Other.......................................                       1,363                             0                                1,363
Total Nonmarketable  b........................        548,821               4,577,286                         5,126,106
Total Public Debt Outstanding ................  9,069,879               4,598,946                       13,668,825
TABLE II -- STATUTORY DEBT LIMIT, OCTOBER 31, 2010
(Millions of dollars)
                                              Amount Outstanding
Title                                                                   Debt Held             Intragovernmental         Totals
                                                                      By the Public 17,          2Holdings
Debt Subject to Limit: 17, 20
  Public Debt Outstanding.....................            9,069,879                 4,598,946               13,668,825
  Less Amounts Not Subject to Limit:
    Other Debt Not Subject to Limit...........                   488                              0                           488
    Unamortized Discount  3...................                 20,959                     19,320                      40,279
    Federal Financing Bank  1     ............                          0                     10,239                      10,239
    Hope Bonds 19.............................                              0                          493                           493
  Total Public Debt Subject to Limit..........         9,048,432                 4,568,895               13,617,326
  Other Debt Subject to Limit:
    Guaranteed Debt of Government Agencies  4          10                               0                             10
  Total Public Debt Subject to Limit..........         9,048,442                 4,568,895               13,617,337
  Statutory Debt Limit  5.....................................................................                         14,294,000
  Balance of Statutory Debt Limit.............................................................                             676,663
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY
THE BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT
www.TreasuryDirect.gov

Things don't really line up but the bottom line shows that there is only $676,663M left before the statutory debt limit of $14,294,000M is reached. It looks like there will have to be another increase in the debt limit unless the incoming house majority can seriously curtail federal spending.

Quote from: bama_beau_redux on November 25, 2010, 08:13:29 AM

We Progressives do not count Obama as a Progressive.
Many of us allowed ourselves to believe that he would become one,
but he has sorely disappointed those who did.  Still, he was better than McCain.
As for the economy, no POTUS could have dug us out of the hole
that we have put ourselves in any faster than Obama can or will if indeed
he ever decides to do so.  The problem is not that he is too Progressive.
The problem is that he is too corporatist and not Progressive enough.
From day one he should have taken a stand against the wealthy
and powerful who have robbed and raped this great nation.  But he didn't. 
And he probably won't.  And we will probably get someone worse next time.
But that's okay, because like Obama, we usually get what we deserve too.

Once again I ask a "progressive", what do you consider "progress", what is the goal?

Or do you people even know or have one?


Billy

They use the word as an noun/adjective to emphasize an action. EX: " We are making progress if the economy is getting progressively worse. " ;D

Quote from: BILLY-bONNEY on November 27, 2010, 05:33:23 PM

Once again I ask a "progressive", what do you consider "progress", what is the goal?

Or do you people even know or have one?


Billy

I asked that question years ago, and LL, Leftyloosey and a whole bunch of other libs, flat out told me that change, good or bad is what they consider progress.
My response?  :o :o :o WTF The is wrong with you? Was Hitler making progress?
They said Yep, look at Germany today. :o
I gave up...

You cannot reason with a lib because they use circular logic. You get dizzy trying to understand their responses.

Quote from: surfer_squirrel on November 27, 2010, 05:51:57 PM
You cannot reason with a lib because they use circular logic. You get dizzy trying to understand their responses.

It's true, there is no reasoning with an emotional idiot.

Quote from: Solar on November 27, 2010, 05:47:26 PM
I asked that question years ago, and LL, Leftyloosey and a whole bunch of other libs, flat out told me that change, good or bad is what they consider progress.
My response?  :o :o :o WTF The is wrong with you? Was Hitler making progress?
They said Yep, look at Germany today. :o
I gave up...

So a three trillion dollar debt is "progress" ?

Again I say progress towards what goal?

Billy

Quote from: BILLY-bONNEY on November 27, 2010, 06:24:35 PM

So a three trillion dollar debt is "progress" ?

Again I say progress towards what goal?

Billy

Billy, what makes you so sure that it is only three trillion? That number is only what they will currently admit to. The creative bookkeeping they do in DC would make professional embezzlers look like cub scouts.

Quote from: BILLY-bONNEY on November 27, 2010, 06:24:35 PM

So a three trillion dollar debt is "progress" ?

Again I say progress towards what goal?

Billy

The $3 trillion is roughly the deficit for that past two years. The debt is somewhere north of $13 trillion.

I think you might be missing the point, Billy. If 'change' is considered 'progress,' there can be no goal other than continuing 'change.' They do not think like we do, man.