Here's a re-posting of a story I ran in February of last year, when Congressional Republicans were freaking out about the stimulus bill. You know, the last time they told America that we were all going to be enslaved by Teh Socializmz.

The lesson is as true today as it was during the stimulus debate, and in turn as true as it was during the 1993 stimulus debate (which is exactly the point): Republicans have nothing else in their bag of tricks except to swear to you that whatever Democrats do is going to be a disaster.

You will find the quotes eerily familiar if you watch today's floor debate on the health insurance reform bill. Why? Because this is the only thing Republicans know how to do.

Remember, these are the people who told you "We know where the WMD are," and were willing to put 4,000+ American soldiers and untold thousands of Iraqis in the ground based on their insane idiocy. Today they tell you to fear finally being able to afford to take your kids to the damn doctor, and not only are there actually people willing to believe them, and your TeeVee news will insist they must be listened to.

I HAVE WITH ME a hard copy of a collection of Republican quotes predicting doom and disaster in the wake of the 1993 Clinton economic stimulus plan, and much of the rhetoric is eerily similar to today's. Of course, that should come as no surprise, since the point of the compilation was in fact to point out that the 1993 rhetoric -- particularly on health care, which was still a live proposition at that time -- was itself eerily similar to Republican doom and disaster rhetoric during the debate on the original Social Security and Medicare legislation.

I figure this is what I've been saving this crazy thing for, after all these years. So I'm just going to type them all up here for your enjoyment. And I sincerely hope that they retain their entertainment value forever, and in particular that we all get to laugh -- not nervous tittering, but really have a carefree laugh -- at this exercise very, very soon.

Some of these quotes are better ammunition than others. I think the blunt predictions of utter disaster from the Republicans in 1993 are pretty damning for the most part.

Others, I'm not so sure haven't still got a grain of truth to them, somewhere, particularly with respect to Medicare. I think many of the concerns were more than overstated, but they're not all quite as crazy-sounding as, say, some of the quotes on Social Security, insisting that it would be the end of a free America. Except Reagan's of course. He went there.

One other thing you'll notice about the 1993 quotes is how many of the Republicans responsible for them are no longer in power, most of them long, long gone. The prosperity created by the Clinton program far outlasted them, which is as it should be.

Finally, I can't vouch directly for the sourcing, formatting or editing. I'm reproducing these quotes as near to the format in which I got them as I can, with the exception of having put the name of the speaker above the blockquotes, in the current blogging style, as opposed to beneath them as was done in the document.

On the 1993 deficit reduction package:

Rep. Robert Michel (R-IL), Los Angeles Times, 5/28/93:

They will remember who let loose this deadly virus into our economic bloodstream.

Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), GOP Press Conference, House TV Gallery, 8/5/93:

I believe this will lead to a recession next year. This is the Democrat machine's recession, and each one of them will be held personally accountable.

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), 8/5/93:

Do you know what? This is your package. We will come back here next year and try to help you when this puts the economy in the gutter...

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), CNN, 7/28/93:

This plan will not work. If it was to work, then I'd have to become a Democrat...

Rep. Robert Dornan (R-CA), 8/5/93:

The problem with our economy is that there is too little employment and too little growth. This plan will do nothing to improve that condition and will actually make it worse.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA), 5/27/93:

This is really the Dr. Kevorkian plan for our economy.

Rep. Thomas Ewing (R-IL), 8/5/93:

...This bill is a disaster waiting to happen.

Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), 3/17/93:

...will stifle economic growth, destroy jobs, reduce revenues, and increase the deficit.

Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL), 3/18/93:

...a recipe for economic and fiscal disaster.

On jobs:

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), CNN, 7/28/93:

...We have a stagnant economy and there is nothing down the road that makes it look like we're going to have the kind of economic growth that puts people to work.

Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), CNN, 8/2/93:

The impact on job creation is going to be devastating, and the American young people in particular will suffer a fairly substantial deferment of their lives because there simply won't be jobs for the next two to three years to go around to our young graduates across the country.

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), 5/27/93:

...your economic program is a job killer.

On interest rates:

Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), 8/5/93:

The economy will sputter along. Dreams will be put off and all this for the hollow promise of deficit reduction and magical theories of lower interest rates. Like so many of the President's past promises, deficit reduction will be another cruel hoax.

Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA), 8/4/93:

The simple fact is that the Clinton plan will not lower interest rates. It will not lower inflation. It will not create jobs. And it will no lower the deficit. The Clinton tax plan will spur inflation, lose jobs, increase the deficit, and hurt our economic growth.

On inflation:

Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH), 5/27/93:

The votes we will take today will not be soon forgotten by the American voter. [They] will lead to more taxes, higher inflation, and slower economic growth.

On the deficit:

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), GOP News Conference, Senate Gallery, 8/3/93:

Come next year... we're going to find out whether we have higher deficits, we're going to find out whether we have a slower economy, we're going to find out what's going to happen to interest rates, and it's our bet that this is a job killer.

Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), CNN, 8/2/93:

Clearly this is a job killer in the short run. The revenues forecast for this budget will not materialize; the costs of this budget will be greater than what is forecast. The deficit will be worse, and it is not a good omen for the American economy.

Rep. Jim Bunning (R-KY), 8/5/93:

It will not cut the deficit. It will not create jobs. And it will not cut spending.

Rep. Dick Armey, CNN, 2/18/93:

I will tell you, this program will not give you deficit reduction. It will be a disaster for the performance of the economy.

Rep. Clifford Stearns (R-FL), 3/17/93:

...It will be the kind of impact that this country can't absorb. It will slow economic growth, contribute to the massive federal deficit....

Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO), 8/4/93:

...It will raise your taxes, increase the deficit, and kill over one million jobs.

The 1965 Medicare and 1935 Social Security fearmongering is below the fold.