Congeries of cross connected concepts
Hot Air reports that the Democratic Party is gearing up to hit the GOP hard over the recent veto of the S-CHIP legislation and that this will be very effective. Even though I agree that the veto was the obviously correct action, I have to agree with Hot Air as well.
But the problem, it seems to me, is not that President Bush is down in the polls, but that he has thrown away any personal and party credibility on fiscal restraint. If he and the Congressional GOP delegation had consistently opposed wasteful spending, earmarks, program expansion, etc., then I think they could have easily weathered this controversy because their story would be consistent with their overall actions. In reality, their story on this is in contradiciton to their normal spending habits and it is that, not the poll numbers, that will make this charge stick on the American Street.
Certain people whine about the triviality of the earmarks, but here is where the real value lies, in establishing an expectation and reputation that lets you get by the hard spending choices.
UPDATE: Instapundit catches up with my cutting edge commentary. It’s nice when he can make it to the party.
