True conservatives are furious at the runaway spending in Washington DC, and GOP congressional leaders are going to do something about it. According to a Washington Post article, they are going to:
Soothe conservatives...
Defuse ire over spending...
Win over angry conservatives...
And how are they going to do this? No, not by cutting spending or repealing tax cuts...but they are going to clamp down on any rank-and-file members that speak out against congressional spending. An example? Republican Mike Pence was called in for what was described by Robert Novak as a, "closed-door auto-da-fe" from Hastert and DeLay...and afterward?
...Pence got the leadership's message, loud and clear.
Pence's speech was billed by the conservative Young America's Foundation (YAF) as a discussion of "why the conservative leadership in Congress has abandoned its allegiance to the principles of smaller government" and gone on "massive spending splurges." But instead, a chastened congressman delivered unstinting praise for his superiors.
The whip cracks...
So, America's fiscal future is at stake and the GOP realizes that they must act, and they must act
now (well, now that they've gotten errant Republicans to shut up)! So what will they
do?
Republican leaders plan appearances this week on the syndicated radio talk shows of conservatives Sean Hannity, Tony Snow, Mike Gallagher and Lars Larson, as well as local radio and television shows, leadership aides said.
That's right! They will blanket the airwaves with the message outlined by Tom Delay:
"It is clear that the recent political discussion focusing on the government's spending priorities and overall economic platform in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita has introduced a valuable forum to promote the triumph of our ideas and solutions for government over the crumbling and outdated policies of the Democrat-controlled Congresses of past decades,"
Dammit! I knew it was our fault! Never mind the hundreds of billions spent (and lost) in Iraq, the "Thank-God-I-Own-A-Drug-Company" Medicare Prescription Bill, the massively bloated Highway Bill or the tax cuts for the wealthy during a time of war and massive spending...it's all the fault of a Democrat-controlled Congress more than a decade ago. And the GOP leadership will not listen to anyone who says otherwise:
In private meetings last week, GOP leaders sharply criticized rank-and-file Republicans for taking issue with the surge in spending, pleading instead for unity.
But it seems that reality and the upcoming 2006 elections have some Republicans spitting out the kool-aid.
"This leadership group is so out of touch, it's unbelievable," said one House lawmaker...
He just realized that?