Republican Rehab

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal Editorial

Republican Rehab
November 28, 2006; Page A14

We'll soon find out if the loss of both houses of Congress was enough of a shock for Republicans to check into the Hazelton rehab center for spending addicts. GOP Doctors, er, Senators Jim DeMint (South Carolina) and Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) have been staging an intervention so their colleagues don't risk another overdose before they ride off into the minority. The drama played out on the Senate floor recently as the pair blocked GOP Appropriators from passing spending bills for Fiscal Year 2007 unless they stripped out special-interest "earmarks." You could almost feel the withdrawal shakes coming on, as the Members contemplated a year without pork... By Mr. Coburn's estimate, taxpayers would save about $17 billion if Congress takes this approach.

(snip)

All of the special-interest shouting is a familiar bit of bad Washington theater designed to scare Congress into spending more. But what do Republicans have to lose now that they've already lost their majority? On the other hand, what they could gain is some of the fiscal respect they abandoned in recent years. By leaving behind a lower spending "baseline," they'd also make it harder for Democrats to break the bank next year. So rather than denounce Senators DeMint and Coburn, their GOP brethren should thank the pair for offering this tough love to help break their addiction. It's more love than the voters just showed them.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116468385590334173.html (subscription)

[NMDemDist2]

1. "harder for the Democrats to break the bank next year" ??? WTF

one of Pelosi's top priorities is "PayGo"

:banghead:

seems I'm using that emoticon way too much the last few days...... *sigh*