In the category of "Couldn't have said it better..."

Harold Myerson writing in the Washington Post: (The Republican Rankin File)


"The current form of Republican inflexibility dates to the dissolution of the Soviet Union: With the end of the Cold War, the GOP's signature issue -- anti-communism -- was no more. Republicans quickly discovered that the only other issue they all agreed on was cutting taxes.

So George W. Bush called for tax cuts to deal with the dangerous budget surpluses that Bill Clinton had been running, and then called for tax cuts to close the deficit his earlier tax cuts had created. He proposed tax cuts to finance his war in Iraq. And in that same spirit, defeated
presidential nominee John McCain, in his Republican alternative to the Democrats' stimulus bill, called for nothing but tax cuts to remedy the current meltdown and complained that the Democrats were calling for spending, not stimulus. Never mind that no reputable economist believes that tax cuts get money into circulation as effectively as government spending does. The Republicans' belief in tax cuts is beyond the realm of empirical argument. Data do not daunt them, nor facts compel reflection."

Either that, or a lot more speed cameras...