Roy Blunt and the "FDR Created the Great Depression" Zombie Lie

David Sirota's picture

The right's zombie lie that Franklin Roosevelt created the Great Depression apparently will never ever stop:

All of the Republicans agreed that the plan is a spending boondoggle that won't turn the economy around. U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt made the most pointed criticism of it in his speech Friday night: "I guess you can't be Franklin Roosevelt if you don't create a depression," he said of President Barack Obama.

As brownsox notes, the Great Depression began over three years before President Roosevelt took office. Additionally, government data shows that the pre-WWII New Deal created the single fastest and largest drop in the unemployment rate in American history.

These are verifiable facts that conservatives simply refuse to accept, because it gets in the way of their extremist ideology. And honestly, as much as I know the right is willing to lie and lie and lie about things, I must say that the adamant commitment to this particular lie is especially stunning. I mean, not only is it verifiably untrue, but the person they seek to demonize - Franklin Roosevelt - is among the most popular and revered presidents in history. So the right's insistence on pushing this particular untruth doesn't even make political sense. It's just straight-up extremist ideology talking.

(h/t Show Me Progress)





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