Bush tax cuts caused the great recession"... you: "Yeah..."

Second, if you believe that tax cuts have a simulative effect by virtue of putting more cash in the hands of taxpayers, those tax cuts have the same stimulative effect whether they are implemented before needed (i.e. in 2001 & 2003) or if they are implemented later at the time of the recession. You could argue that implementing the cuts early was unnecessary and a waste of money, but I don't see how you argue the lower taxes and more money in people's pockets is only stimulative if implemented in 2009, but not if implemented earlier. In both cases, people have more money. If you don't believe tax cuts are stimulative, then what would be the point of doing anything in 2009 anyway.

Third, the Bush tax cuts did not prevent us from taking further action to combat the recession. Despite the 2001/2003 tax cuts, we still reduced payroll taxes and implemented damn near unlimited unemployment benefits to help spur the economy. We ran deficits that were 75% of total revenues, so I don't think anyone felt constrained in our response to the recession because of the Bush tax cuts. We were more than willing to run historically unprecedented deficit levels.