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"Santa and Frank" by Thomas Sowell represents a gutsy attempt at revisionist history:

It goes like this: Democrats start spending money wildly, handing out goodies to a wide range of people who they want to vote for them, while Republicans complain about deficits and the national debt. Then, when the public becomes alarmed about the debts that are piling up, the Democrats get the Republicans to vote for higher taxes to deal with the debt crisis, in the name of "fiscal responsibility."

The problem there is that this is complete lie. Clinton cut spending left and right, whereas both Reagan and Bush "handed out goodies" to a small range of defense contractors and put it on the national credit card. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both doubled the national debt during their presidencies, whereas Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus. And let's not mention that Reagan was quite fond of raising taxes.

There is already a bipartisan commission set to provide political cover for the Democrats' wild spending that has increased the national debt from 63 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2004 to 83 percent in 2009-- and official estimates of more than 90 percent this year, with more increases in sight.

Another revisionist fairy tale. Spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the lost revenue from the Bush tax cuts, and the financial bailouts caused that increase in the national debt. Of course Sowell supported those wars when Bush was running them, and the budget crises they incurred didn't bother him until a Democrat took office.