Purveyors of pork

What's happened to my party? I think Bob Novak summed it up over at TownHall.com

"Given the lack of time available," Sen. Mitch McConnell said last week, "the best way to deal with the troop funding issue would be in the context of some kind of settlement on an overall omnibus appropriation bill." Instead of following the president's hardline on spending, the Republican leader of the Senate was opting for a compromise bill that George W. Bush might be forced to sign because it contains money for Iraq.

House Republican Leader John Boehner sounds determined about sticking to President Bush's budget and ending up with a continuing resolution (CR) keeping spending at present levels. McConnell plays his cards closer to his vest than Boehner but seems to favor cutting a deal with the Democrats for a compromise exceeding Bush's limits. A CR would contain no new earmarks, while an omnibus bill would be festooned with earmarks for lavish pork-barrel spending back home -- desired by McConnell among others.

This poses a fateful choice for a troubled Republican Party in danger of national decline. Rank-and-file House Republicans press Boehner to "regain our brand" as the party of fiscal responsibility. But the Senate GOP, led by McConnell, sees a different route to survival. They feel the need to bring home the bacon to constituents, and that means cutting a deal with Majority Leader Harry Reid for an earmark-heavy omnibus bill...

Thankfully there are a few GOP Senators, such as Tom Coburn (R-OK), who remember why they were sent to Washington. One other Republican Senator worth keeping in Washington is described by Novak:

These seasoned purveyors of pork outgun and outnumber GOP reformers such as Sen. Jim DeMint, a first-termer from South Carolina, who told me: "A CR is the only way to keep spending at any sensible level. An omnibus bill would be a defeat for the Republicans. I don't see any reason to cave in on our principles. The Republicans have no discipline when it comes to appropriations." DeMint was careful not to mention McConnell and the other Republican appropriators by name, but there was no doubt whom he was talking about.

I have to wonder if this party will ever come to its senses? Think about it... the "conservatives" here are Boehner and the people who want to stick with Bush's "frugal ways."

I know he's a radical, but at least Ron Paul would challenge these Senators who are neither true Republicans nor true Democrats... they're true Incumbents... in the worst sense of the word.

Tim White