Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher?

Meryl Streep will be playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the upcoming film, "The Iron Lady."

Now here's a question: Will the movie note that Thatcher, the darling of the right wing here in the U.S., was actually a tax and spend kind of woman?  As Bruce Bartlettt at The New York Times "Economix" blog notes:

While Mrs. Thatcher is a towering figure in British political history, well deserving of admiration, the conservative legend about her time in power is at odds with the facts. In this legend, she was even more aggressive than Reagan in cutting taxes and the welfare state. But that is not true.

As this table shows, taxes as a share of the gross domestic product in Britain actually increased sharply during Mrs. Thatcher’s first seven years in office before falling in the later years. Even at the end, they were significantly higher than they were when she took office. Spending also rose during her first seven years before falling in Mrs. Thatcher’s later years.

Bartlett, who held lead policy jobs in the Reagan and Bush I White Houses, and has also worked for Jack Kemp and Ron Paul, goes on to note that:

In particular, Mrs. Thatcher, like all the members of her party, strongly supported the National Health Service, which provides national health insurance for every Briton.

Right. So the if taxes and health care were good enough for Maggie, why are they deemed to be evil now by those who now lionize her?

Oh right. I forgot. The current crop of Republicans don't actually read, so they don't actually know this stuff. Silly me!

Forgive me -- I am old. I come from a time when members of the Republican Party were more likely to have read Shakespeare and Chaucer, and not less. I come from a time when members of the Republican Party were more likely to be opposed to senseless war, not less. I come from a time when America was great because we were taxed and because we recognized we were a nation, and not simply a collection of every-man for himself greed-heads.  Margaret Thatcher was trying to run a country.  Most of the politicians running for office these days are only running their mouths.
..