Panic on the Hill
Long MSNBC/Newsweek column that frankly, you don’t need to read all of–it’s nothing you don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, or at least reading this blog almost every day.
But a couple of ‘graphs do merit special attention…
“The high anxiety was evident when the normally genial House speaker, Denny Hastert, had the gall to question whether Arizona Sen. John McCain understood the meaning of sacrifice during wartime. “Is he a Republican?” Hastert snidely asked, before suggesting McCain might want to visit some of the wounded if he didn’t think Americans were making sacrifices.
What prompted Hastert’s outburst was McCain’s insistence on spending restraints to pay for future tax cuts, as opposed to simply running up the deficit. Where is the sacrifice, McCain asked, pointing out that no war president has cut taxes while defense costs are mounting. Considering that McCain spent five years as a POW in Vietnam, Hastert’s remarks were particularly impolitic.”
