Ohio Rep. Thinks FDR Caused Depression

clipped from yglesias.thinkprogress.org U.S. Rep. Steve Austria said he supports a scaled-down federal economic-stimulus proposal, but the Beavercreek Republican told The Dispatch editorial board that the huge influx of money into the economy could have a negative effect. “When (President Franklin) Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression,” Austria said. “He tried to borrow and spend, he tried to use the Keynesian approach, and our country ended up in a Great Depression. That’s just history.” Most historians date the beginning of the Great Depression at or shortly after the stock-market crash of 1929; Roosevelt took office in 1933.

The above remarks were made to the Columbus Dispatch of Ohio. Turns out that Mitch McConnell's not the only GOPer to have no idea what he's talking about with the depression. Don't you just love how he says, "That's just history?" It could only get better if he added, "Everyone knows that!"

Writes Matthew Yglesias, "Probabilities indicate that this is not the stupidest conservative in congress."

Probably not even in the top five.