January 13, 2007

The GOP Still Doesn't Get It...

Citing the WSJ, Stephen Bainbridge asks "Did the K Street Gang learn nothing from the drubbing it took in 2006?" Apparently not:

One big test of a new minority is to draw the right lesson from its drubbing at the polls. House Republicans have a long way to go, judging by House Minority Leader John Boehner's decision this week to punish Arizona's Jeff Flake by tossing him off the Judiciary Committee. The offense? Porkbusting.

Mr. Flake should be getting a promotion to the leadership, given how prescient he was in warning his colleagues about the perils of their run-amok "earmarking." He and a few comrades sponsored more than 40 House floor amendments last year to strip pork projects from spending bills. The National Taxpayers Union ranked him the most fiscally conservative member of the House. None of that sits very well with his House colleagues, who blame Mr. Flake for shining public attention on their spendthrift ways. They're especially angry that he talked about this with CBS's "60 Minutes," which chose to run the program on election eve weekend.

After reading that, I almost wish I was a current donor to the RNC, just so I could stop being one now. It's bad enough that they lost the election. They had to go one better by re-electing the same leadership. Now they're purging the reformers.

From what I gather, most Republicans want reform, but most are willing to sit silently so as not to rock the GOP boat. Most are trying to close ranks while the Party leadership is still knifing some of our best people. I predict there will be a whole lot of people regretting the decision to close ranks come election night 2008.

By Ragnar Danneskjold, Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger at 11:47 AM | |