It certainly seems like it. The Jon Hulburd campaign is sending around the video below, which shows Quayle nattering on about debt and government spending.

In it, he says:

“Government in America is today spending well over 14.5 trillion dollars a year. and since government can’t possibly collect that much money from the people, it’s loading massive debt on the backs of the next generation, so politicians can go on spending your money on their agenda.”

It certainly seems as if the Hulburd campaign is right, and that Quayle misstated the size of the budget; it’s only about $3.5 trillion.

The Hulburd folks say Quayle pulled the ad after about an hour on You Tube. I emailed the Quayle campaign’s PR person and will post her reply when I get it.

Here’s the ad:



The really irritating thing about the spot isn’t the mistake.

It’s the phony concern about debt. There are myriad charts out there—here’s a good one—detailing how the debt has not just risen but risen astronomically under Republican presidents and declined under Democratic ones.

This Wikipedia page, for example, it shows how since the Kennedy Era all Democratic presidents have reduced the debt and GOP ones have increased it—with the exception of the first Nixon term.

And in most cases the increase was massive: An average of more than twelve percent a year.