LEFTY CRITICS ASK WHY THERE WEREN’T TEA PARTY PROTESTS OVER BUSH’S DEFICITS: Maybe this is why: White House: Budget deficit to top $1.8 trillion, 4 times 2008’s record. “With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year.”

UPDATE: Reader Don Tyler writes: “The reason we didn’t protest is that we were in the middle of an election. Bush was no longer the problem. We protested at all of McCain’s campaign stops… and protested the spending of Congress and Bush.” People did complain about Bush’s spending, but as you can see, the deficit was actually declining during most of his second term. And Obama’s disavowal of responsibility has failed the FactCheck.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Various readers email that there was a protest over Bush’s spending — it was the elections of 2006 and 2008, when fiscal conservatives stayed home.