Speaking of big spending, a variety of independent organizations have for some time estimated that costs associated with the Iraq war will approach $1 Trillion.  The war ended up being a bonanza for companies such as Halliburton (which recently abandoned its US headquarters for greener pastures in the Middles East - yes, they actually pulled up stakes and are no longer a US company). 

The original estimate for the war was between $100 and $200 billion.  Being off by a factor of between 5 and 10 would normally be considered at the very least troubling.   These expenditures were “off the books” because they were special funding requests.  This spending was on to of already impressive normal appropriations spending.  You may also remember that George Bush did not veto any of these large omnibus appropriations bills. 

Per the image from Wikipedia below, we can see that the debt dropped as we closed out the Clinton era.  The debt then rose again sharply under Bush.  Some of the increased spending was understandable increases in homeland security and defense spending.

The budget deficit swelled during the period of solid GOP control.  Interestingly, it dipped during the first year that Democrats had control of Congress in 2007.  However, in 2008 special spending on the bank bailout drove the deficit higher.  This emergency increase in spending was a function of bipartisan supported increased spending associated with stemming the financial crisis and credit crunch. 

Based on just this limited empirical data of the most relevant timeframes, you can’t wildly assert that Democrats are wild-eyed free spenders.  The data does not support this assertion. 

But remember, all the while; much of the supplemental spending on the Iraq war has been off the books.