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Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Wake Up Call

The Moose wonders if the right is wakening from its long slumber.

The Moose has argued that it is only a matter of time that the tensions within the Republican Party come to the surface. A front page story in today's Washington Post suggests that the somnolence of the right-wing kennel-fed conservatives might be ending. Upset about the Bushies' big government conservatism which preempts the states in such areas as education, law suits and has steadily increased the size of the federal bureaucracy, one right winger moaned,

"He keeps expanding the federal involvement into state and local affairs," said Chris Edwards, a tax and budget expert at the Cato Institute, a think tank that often supports the president's agenda. "My hope would be that there would be an electoral rebuke of big [-government] Republicans like there was when the tectonic plates shifted in 1994."

Apparently, this gentleman has not gotten the talking points. The objective of the Bushies is not to reduce the size of government but rather to maintain power in order enlarge the wealth of the wealthy. Get with the program!

As the Medicare drug bill proved, growing the size of government in order to benefit the wealthy is no vice for this Administration. And lying in the defense of the President is a virtue,

"As recently as September, Medicare chief Mark B. McClellan said the new drug package would cost $534 billion over 10 years. Last night, he acknowledged that the cumulative cost of the program between 2006 and 2015 will reach $1.2 trillion, but he cited several major savings and offsets that he said will reduce the federal government's bottom-line cost to $720 billion."

Oh well, what's a few hundred billion dollars between friends when you're trying to reward the big drug companies? Picky, picky, picky.

Meanwhile, the House's Bugman in Chief is a bit cranky about the President's immigration reform plan -

"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) spelled out a rare difference with the White House yesterday, telling reporters that he thinks illegal immigrants must return to their home countries before being granted temporary legal status...

"Many House Republicans have complained that Bush's plan amounts to an amnesty, or a general pardon, although he has insisted that is not his intention. Supporters of Bush's idea argue that workers would be more likely to register if they could stay in the United States, and that encouraging them to come out of the shadows would enhance national security."

Moreover, there are also profound differences among the Republicans over social security. All of this is not to say that there is an impending conservative crack-up, but Washington is far from a right wing Shangri-La.

And just in the nick of time, the donkey may be riding to the elephant's rescue. Some of the blogosphere lefties might not want to hear it, but this weekend the DNC will deliver a gift-wrapped office warming present to the new White House Deputy Chief of Staff . Just take a sampling of what is in that oppo-file that is undoubtedly sitting on his West Wing desk and is contained in today's Washington Times -

"Critics say Mr. Dean hurt both his candidacy and party with some of his statements during the Democratic primary campaign. Mr. Dean said terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden should not be judged until he has had a jury trial, expressed doubt about whether Iraqis were better off with Saddam Hussein out of power, called Hamas terrorists "soldiers," and angered Jewish Democrats when he said that the United States should be "evenhanded" in its Middle East policy rather than always favoring Israel."

Perhaps the only thing that can save the elephant is the donkey.

That is why there is a Bull Moose.


-- Posted at 9:27 AM | Link to this post | Email this post