Another One Bites The Dust

To be fair, like Rep Murtha, I am not changing my position. I continue to hope that the GOP does not run a senator for president in 2008.

Senator Allen of Virginia was a darling of Conservatives and I saw him deliver a pretty good speech. He was on C-SPAN speaking to a Republican group somewhere (I know, I know, I am Mr. Excitement incarnate).

But I think he is off the list today. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page has exposed him as a protectionist: hanging with Senator Byrd to protect insane anti-dumping laws with perverse incentives (corporations can keep the fines if they get the government to sue).

Not pretty:

We're not surprised to see the signatures of Ohio Senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich or Georgia's Saxby Chambliss on that letter. They're flacking for their home-state companies (see above) and no one will mistake them as Presidential timber. The really surprising name on the list, however, is George Allen, the Virginia Republican who has become the darling of some conservatives as they contemplate life after President Bush.

We wonder if Mr. Allen really knows what he's doing here. Byrd distributions in Virginia in 2004 totaled a mere $5.5 million. About $4.6 million went to Lafarge North America, and $924,000 to Titan America LLC -- both building material suppliers that stand to benefit from such protectionism as the 55% anti-dumping duty levied on Mexican cement.

In return for doing their bidding, Mr. Allen is cementing his own reputation as an opponent of free trade. No avowed protectionist has won the White House since Herbert Hoover in 1928 (and we know how that turned out), so backing Byrd doesn't look like a smart political strategy. Worse, it raises doubts about Mr. Allen's grasp of economic policy.

Modern Presidents of both parties have been ardent free-traders because they realize it is in the national interest. That's why Mr. Bush is now devoting a great deal of his time and diplomacy to advancing the Doha round of global trade talks. Byrd contradicts that policy, which is why a growing number of national business groups -- from home builders and construction companies to food processors and retailers -- are organizing to fight Byrd. They see both U.S. exports and consumers losing under Byrd to a handful of inefficient U.S. companies and their savvy Beltway lawyers. Which side are Mr. Allen and his GOP colleagues on?

Condi. Condi. Condi.

Politics Posted by jk at November 22, 2005 10:28 AM