Say that again, John Boehner.

BLITZER: He seemed to be saying, all those Republicans who want a free market, who want to deregulate, who want the government off the back of these huge corporations, look what they're -- look what we got as a result of all of that.

BOEHNER: Wolf, you have to understand, there was no deregulation of anything in the financial services industries. As a matter of fact, there was an increase in regulation.

 

Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute, John Boehner, minority leader of the House Republicans. There never was any deregulation from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill of 1999? Our current economic fix is unrelated to deregulation? So, those credit default swaps were what, illegal, but the financial giants all decided to do them anyway? Just how dumb do you think we are, John? The weird new financial instruments were your creation, stop fibbing.

Look, I am just as aware as you are that we are embarking on a dangerous trip into massive borrowing, even more than Bush Republicans practiced, in an effort to shore up our collapsing financial sector. But please, stop arguing that the mess just mysteriously happened, after you signed off on legislation that permitted more experimental forms of finance than had previously existed.  Try the truth. Try "sure, we messed up by serving as enablers to the worst financial abuses, because we actually thought that we would be making the USA more competitive. We did not understand that we were actually helping to create an unsustainable situation that would result in the USA economy starting a global slump, that many other nations would rightly blame us for starting. We are sorry for this mistake, but we are now going to work for strengthening of the SEC and the creation of basic financial regulations that will prevent future disasters. We will also fight for a return to fiscal sanity, just as soon as Geithner, with our assistance, gets a handle on the financial sector and the housing collapse."

But no, Limbaugh would not approve of statesmanship, so stick with the denial. It will appeal to Limbaugh's people, the Republican core. As for the electorate at large, you can be certain that many will scratch their heads and say, "gee he couldn't say that if it were a lie, right?"