Fool us three times? Shame, shame, shame.

If you can stand it, try a little experiment: Ask a Republican how Mitt Romney would be different than George W. Bush. I’ll tell you the answer you’ll get later and why it’s a lie. But first, let’s review how Mitt compares to George.

THE SAME

Advisers

According to the Washington Times:

Mr. Romney’s corps of advisers, in fact, is heavily salted with figures who surrounded the 43rd president as he watched over massive increases in federal spending, the creation of more government programs and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the nation-building efforts that followed.

WORSE

Taxes

In addition to extending the Bush tax breaks, Mitt Romney is promising across-the-board tax breaks for all Americans who pay federal taxes. There’s another way to describe this: Mitt Romney is promising huge tax breaks for the rich–about 2.5 times the sizes of Bush’s. The few hundred dollars middle class voters will receive will be matched by hundreds of thousands of dollars for millionaires and millions for billionaires. This is Bush policy on steroids. It would starve our middle class of desperately needed services and create no jobs.

Medicare

George W. Bush expanded Medicare without paying for it. Mitt Romney is going to make you pay for it. He’s promising to voucherize Medicare in a way that will send trillions to Wall Street and cost seniors trillions more out of pocket. Mitt is also supportive of the Ryan Plan, which originally included a promise to privatize Social Security.

Women’s Health

If elected, Romney will like likely have the chance to appoint the Supreme Court Justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade. The Roberts Court has shown no hesitation to throw out precedent with startling rulings such as Citizens UnitedDIFFERENT?

The answer you’ll get when you ask how Mitt will be different than George W. Bush is spending.

Here you uncover the lie that’s at the heart of Republican politics. It’s such a lie that even Mitt Romney has admitted that he can’t cut spending dramatically without sparking an immediate recession or a depression. The dirty secret of both the Reagan and Bush economies is that government spending fueled them. Romney knows if he starts cutting anything more than symbolic programs like NPR and PBS, he’ll sink any hopes he has of a successful presidency. That’s why he’s promised to increase defense spending.

Mitt Romney has offered no real plan to cut spending. His plan actually increases the debt more than the President Obama’s.

According to the Tax Policy Center, Romney’s plan would add $900 billion to the deficit in 2015, when the changes would go into full effect.

In every way that matters, Mitt Romney would be the same or worse as George W. Bush. Point that out to a Republican and make them prove otherwise.

[CC image by DonkeyHotey]