John Fout
McCain firmly ties himself to extending Bush's tax cuts and proposing more, despite preaching the opposite a few years ago. Under normal circumstances, this would be a reasonable Republican strategy: small government. The elephant in the room, however, is credibility. McCain lacks it, and so do many of the other GOP members in Congress.
Budget earmarks, which jumped by 285% between 1994 and 2005 as their cost soared by 60%, stand as the perfect symbol of the GOP-led profligacy that drives us crazy still. In and of themselves, earmarks are admittedly a small part in the budget process, amounting to roughly 2% of the federal budget in 2005.McCain has said he plans to assail earmarks and veto any legislation with them attached. Sounds great, except for the fact that McCain plans to repeat the errors of the past. Cutting earmarks only reduces the deficit by about $18 billion. As I wrote a few weeks ago, his plans only add to the deficit and the debt. McCain would do well to read the op-ed of the Lincoln Club. The club hails from the conservative bastion of Orange County, Calif., and has a 45-year history of raising funds for Republican causes. They brought Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to national prominence, and more recently funded the recall of the former Democratic governor of California, Gray Davis. They call on GOP party leadership to stop pork barrel projects and reduce government spending -- or else lose out on big donations.
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