Democrat Bashing

May I indulge? I read the Hugh Hewitt book and have been very disappointed with some Democrats that I thought I liked.

Rep. Jane Harman was on FOX News Sunday yesterday. When she came on, I said "Here's my second favorite Democrat (Rep Harold Ford is first)." When she spoke, you'd've assumed it was Leader Pelosi. All she did was attack the President (okay she's a Democrat) and the Iraq War (not so okay, she's ranking D on the Armed Services Committee). Let's say she went from two to 200 on my list yesterday.

Senator Bayh has gone left to fuel his presidential aspirations, Jane Harman sent away for her moonbat membership card. It's a matter of time before Harold Ford calls for nationalized oil and Sen. Lieberman wants to cut and run.

Another soi disant Democratic moderate was Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. The state that sends Jon Kyl to the Senate elected her to be Governor. The WSJ Ed page gives her low marks today. The state has a $1.2 billion and growing surplus (a lesser man would make his immigration points here...) and by the state constitution, they have to spend it or refund it. Guess how the battle lines form.

In the spending corner is Governor Janet Napolitano, one of the celebrated "moderate" Democrats running a red state. Earlier this year she proposed a one-year 22% budget expansion to $10.1 billion from $8.2 billion -- with the goodies spread far and wide across the government and especially to the teachers unions. That's nearly three times the rate of increase that the spendthrift U.S. Congress is contemplating. Ms. Napolitano is also floating a tax cut, but one microscopic in size and sheer gimmickry: for example, a three-day sales tax holiday for purchasing school supplies and a tax credit for buying environmentally friendly cars.

Republicans in the Arizona legislature are taking a page from tax-cutting former Governor Fife Symington and proposing to cut the income tax. The state senate has passed a bill chopping the top marginal income-tax rate to 4% from 5% over five years, while the house wants a smaller reduction over three years. The GOP also wants to eliminate the state portion of the property tax, which would shave $125 a year off the tax bill on the average-priced home. That makes sense too: In only two years, property taxes have soared by 51% thanks to the hot local housing market.

I hope she closed her eyes when she said "tax credit for environmentally friendly cars."

UPDATE: This WaPo story transcribes some of the exchange I was discussing, specifically the point that it is a double standard for the admist4ration to prosecute a leaker when the President has declassified information. How much do we have to fear Iran? Harman is confident that if the Iraqi threat was overblown, things should be just fine next door.

Harman picked up the point, saying, "Our intelligence is thin. I don't think we have enough sources." Referring to recent statements from Tehran that it had begun enriching uranium, Harman said: "Just the fact that the Iranian government is making a lot of noise doesn't prove their capability."

She compared Iran today to Iraq in 2002, when "the Iraqi government made a lot of noise, and they had nothing." She said when the Bush White House did not have a strong case that Saddam Hussein had unconventional weapons, "those who tried to speak truth to power were shut out."

While I am Democrat bashing, the President has a clear constitutional authority to declassify information and share it with the American people. To compare a politically-driven CIA agent’s leak of sensitive national security information is specious. Will they really run with this?

Politics Posted by jk at April 24, 2006 10:26 AM