It’s fair to say that today’s GOP isn’t nearly as concerned about fiscal conservatism as they were when Barack Obama was president. What’s not fair, however, is Bloomberg News national political reporter Sahil Kapur’s attempt to demonstrate that the Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility:

I’m gonna keep saying this because it’s so poorly understood: Since 1981 the deficit has grown under every Republican president and shrunk under every Democratic president. https://t.co/UxK2iDh1dp — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 24, 2019

Sahil left some very important information out of that tweet.

Ok, question. Do you think of Obama had Dem majorities in Congress… That the deficit would have shrunk? Considering the White House's own budget planned INCREASING deficits for as far as the eye could see? — Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) July 24, 2019

Who makes the budget, Sahil? — Pete Moss (@PeteMos54007215) July 24, 2019

I thought it was the House that controlled the purse strings? Or has the constitution being amended?

Secondly, the reason why the deficit tends to shrink under Democratic Presidents is most likely because the Republicans controlled the House.

Doubt me? Bring out the facts. — אביו של יהושע (@big_goddy) July 24, 2019

But facts are only useful when they feed into the preferred narrative. Otherwise, to hell with them.

So much untruth in this post. — Matthew Marlowe (@deploylinux) July 24, 2019

This is poor analysis. Judging the deficit only in the first & final year: 1) Ignores everything that happens in between 2) fails to account for oddities that occur in the first & last year that have nothing to do with the President 3) ignores Congress and the economy. https://t.co/mApZLI5Vh9 — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) July 24, 2019

Example: Obama inherited a 1-year deficit spike ($1.2 trillion as of Jan. 2009) that was projected by CBO to fall to $264 billion by 2012 automatically. Instead he kept it above $1 trillion through 2012. But he's great because it stayed below the original $1.2 trillion? pic.twitter.com/nTKT8kJQbI — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) July 24, 2019

Similarly, Clinton handed Bush a massive & unsustainable tax revenue bubble in 2000 — which artifically inflated Clinton's final surplus, & was destined to come down even if Bush had not cut taxes or gone to war. That's why we measure legislation not acccidents like this — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) July 24, 2019

Imagine if someone claimed the best way to judge a President's economic record is just by comparing the economic growth rate in Year 1 vs. Year 8. ("he added growth!") They would be mocked. Yet that is the equivalent to how Sahil is meauring fiscal records. — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) July 24, 2019

The deficit has shrunk under GOP Congress and grown under Dem Congress and, since it is the Congress who makes the budget, that seems the more interesting metric.

Sahil knows this, but is hoping you do not.

He is hoping you are too stupid to notice this omission. https://t.co/W9eQvo5wmG — PoliMath (@politicalmath) July 24, 2019

We’re not too stupid to notice … but evidently AOC is. The House Financial Services Committee member is amplifying Kapur’s intellectually dishonest tweet, because of course she is:

AOC has the distinction of being as gullible and stupid as she thinks the rest of us are.