Comment by atmavatar

If we're being honest, the GOP never had a problem with deficit spending. It was under Republican administrations that the debt and deficits have grown the most, after all.

It just happens to be a useful cudgel to beat the Democrats over the head anytime they want to spend money, both because the debt really is something that will have to be addressed at some point and because most voters are too stupid (or willfully ignorant) to keep track of which party is really doing all the spending and what said spending has been for.