#5 - they will have a nice chunk of loose change ($350 bils? Yeah, right) with very few strings attached to play with.
McCain should have forcefully stuck it to the administration on this matter. First, it was the right thing to do, especially for an alleged conservative Republican. Second, as much as the conventional wisdom is that Bush steamrolled the country into the Iraq War, it would have been a nice way to contrast himself with the current unpopular administration...and the even more unpopular Congress that was ever so willing to put whatever number the administration wanted on the check. Obama would’ve been left behind in the lurch, flailing around for a position to take.
McCain galvanizes conservatives and gets them enthusiastically behind him with the selection of Gov. Palin as his running mate. Now he’s hidden her, save for letting her be interviewed by a partisan press out to destroy her. And he’s just agreed to the largest expansion of the government into the private sector, perhaps ever.
Meanwhile, we have mean ol’ mean small government conservative George W. Bush back at the White Hizzouse ready to cap his tenure with this monstrosity.
Yes, tell me how conservatives have “won.” This is one of the worst defeats in GOP history. Created, of course, by the GOP itself.
This is not a defeat for the GOP. This is the type of thing the GOP does following it's leader Bush. This, however, is a huge defeat for conservatives and shows just how weak we are. When this bill starts reeking like the piece of garbage that it is, the people will not look to conervatives to save the Republic, they will look to the same greedy, corrupt hacks who pushed this crap on us. Principles cannot persuade ignorance. The average voter in this Country hasn't the slightest clue what the "problem" is or what this bill is about. They are manipulated like children because they do not want to "waste" the time to become informed citizens.
I see no way to overcome this.