Here’s another great post by Mark Levin on his blog, And Another Thing… The Mark Levin Blog.

These Pseudo-Reformers Are Getting on My Nerves
by Mark R. Levin

Oh please, Newt. You’re beginning to sound like McCain, of Keating 5 fame (anyone remember that?). One phony reformer is about all the Republican party can take.

Lobbying is not only as old as Congress itself, but it’s constitutionally protected. The Abramoff case isn’t about lobbying, it’s about bribery. Serious conservatives are upset that Republicans are acting like Democrats not because they have some meal paid for by a lobbyist, but because they failed to curb spending. If they outlawed members receiving meals or trips or whatever, it would have exactly no impact on the continuing growth of the government. Indeed, it would empower the entrenched bureaucracy, the liberal media, and the other voices in Washington that demand more government.

And as I’ve said before, if the president had shown leadership in this regard, such as using his veto pen on a couple of spending bills, rather than demanding new entitlement programs, Republicans in the House (and the Senate for that matter) wouldn’t have passed them. The prescription-drug program, federalizing education, and expanding the farm subsidy program weren’t Tom DeLay’s ideas. DeLay was a good soldier for the White House, which hatched all of it. (As for pork spending, I’ve pointed out before that while it’s clearly abusive, it’s not nearly the problem that institutionalized spending is. Pork spending is pennies on the entitlement dollar. I don’t like it, but in many ways it’s a diversion.)

And those Democrats who feign concern about spending are the first to complain that these programs don’t go far enough and aren’t fully funded. So, of course the Democrats are as much to blame for bloated big-spending. The fact that they’re not in the majority makes them no less irresponsible. They vote for and demand even bigger government than the Republicans. To give them a pass is to give big-spending a pass, except when Republicans are in power. Reform, as I understand the reformers to intend it, means reforming the government, not just the Republican majority. [ 01/29/2006 11:40 PM ]