Dems' pre-debate spin: Romney, Pawlenty would revive Bush policies

Democrats are taking a page out of their 2010 political playbook to rate Republican presidential candidates in their first major debate Monday evening.

Brad Woodhouse, the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) communications director, wrote reporters with pre-debate spin, most of which raised the specter of the Republican contenders for the nomination resurrecting the policies sought last decade by President George W. Bush.

"The most notable thing to look for in tonight's debate, and it won't be hard to find, is how eager Republicans, especially Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, are to return to the failed Republican policies of the last decade that put our economy on the brink of a second Great Depression," Woodhouse wrote.

The memo keyed in on Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, in somewhat of an acknowledgement of their frontrunner status, though Pawlenty lags, as of now, in the polls.

And the line of attack — that the Republicans would revive the "same old" policies echoes the attack that Democrats had used against GOP congressional candidates in the 2010 midterms. That defense didn't do much to stave off major losses in House and gubernatorial races, though Democrats maintained their hold on the Senate.

"Americans want progress that works for them, and they know that the same old recipe the Republicans are offering isn’t going to taste any better for them the second time around," Woodhouse wrote.

Find the whole memo after the jump:

To:          Interested Parties
From:    Brad Woodhouse, Communications Director, Democratic National Committee
Date:     June 13, 2011
RE:          Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and all the Rest: Doubling Down on Disaster

The most notable thing to look for in tonight's debate, and it won't be hard to find, is how eager Republicans, especially Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, are to return to the failed Republican policies of the last decade that put our economy on the brink of a second Great Depression.  While the vast majority of Americans have no interest in returning to those policies - the Laissez-Faire attitude towards big banks, health insurance companies and big oil and tax policies that favor the wealthiest Americans - Republican presidential candidates want to return to these policies and then some.

The willingness of Republican presidential candidates to double down on the disaster of the last decade not three years after our nation's near total financial collapse boggles the mind - but they are doing so without apology - and to date - with only occasionally being challenged by the media.

Tonight, Republicans will compete for the affections of their primary voters who want to return to the policies that led us to the situation we were in when the President was first elected in 2008 – a financial crisis that led to the loss of 3.6 million jobs in the final months of 2008, froze lending and gravely affected middle class families across America.  That wasn’t the result of bad luck – it was the result of bad policies.

Tim Pawlenty’s proposed economic plan, for instance, proves to be more fiscally irresponsible than George W. Bush’s. He would increase the deficit by extending and expanding by 2 or 3 times the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans and he would do so at the expense of investments to fuel our economic recovery.  And Mitt Romney wants more of the same – more tax cuts for the richest Americans and fewer investments in education, clean energy and the jobs of the future.

The fact is Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are in no position to talk about economic growth, budgets or job creation.

In Romney’s four years as governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of all 50 states in job growth.  There's a bumper sticker for you - "Elect Me: I finished fourth from dead last in jobs."

Tim Pawlenty’s record is no better. He left Minnesota with a $6.2 billion projected deficit, making him the first Minnesota governor in history to pass on such a massive shortfall.  And he shifted tax burdens to localities by cutting local funding. The result was that, under Tim Pawlenty, 90% of Minnesotans saw an increase in property taxes.  And during his entire tenure in Minnesota - eight full years - he created a mere 6,200 jobs while seeing a large spike in the jobless rate.

Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and the rest of the Republican field have learned nothing from the near collapse of Wall Street in 2008. Not even three years away from the worst financial crisis in a generation, they want to roll back the protections that the President put in place to ensure that the financial crisis will not be repeated – they would let Wall Street run wild, making up their own rules as they go as the middle class is stuck to fend for itself.

The massive financial crisis and the recession and deficits it caused weren’t created overnight, and they won’t be solved overnight - and matters would simply be worse if Republicans get their way.

In contrast, despite what you will hear tonight, President Obama understands that the effort to win the future begins with getting our economy moving today. The President’s budget cuts $1 trillion over ten years to put our economy on a stronger footing while making investments we need in education, clean energy, technology and infrastructure to get Americans back to work today and meet the challenge of global competition in the future.

We’ve gone from 3.6 million jobs lost at the end of 2008 to 15 straight months of private sector job gains.  The President has cut taxes 26 times – tax cuts to benefit the middle class and get our economy moving.  With the President’s continued leadership, we can continue on that path instead of returning to 2008.

Americans want progress that works for them, and they know that the same old recipe the Republicans are offering isn’t going to taste any better for them the second time around.