Daniel Gross finds yet more Dingbat Kabuki

Daniel Gross: October 16, 2005 - October 22, 2005 Archives : BABBLING BROOKS: Erstwhile smart social critic turned apparatchik David Brooks is excited at doings in Washington. On page A27 of today's New York Times, he writes:

"On the G.O.P. side, this is a moment of Republican glasnost. After years of following the leaders, Republicans are suddently rebelling and innovating on all fronts. Conservatives like Mike Pence and moderates like Mark Kirk are joining forces to battle the DeLay institutionalists to actually cut spending, including cuts in defense and veterans affairs."

Here's the headline from page A18 of the same paper: "House Republicans Put off Vote on Cuts." Carl Hulse reports: "Acknowledging that they were short of the necessary support, House Republican leaders Wednesday abruptly put off a vote on their plan to cut federal spending.... The leadership's inability to round up the votes for its initial plan to raise the broad target for spending cuts to $50 billion from $35 billion showed how difficult the specific cuts will be to achieve...."

By the way... the $50 billion in question is over five years, or $10 billion a year. In the fiscal year just concluded, total federal expenditures were $2.47 trillion. So these bold and highly divisive cuts, which the Republicans can't even bring to a vote, constitute four tenths of one percent of last year's spending.

Glasnost? Nyet.