Congressional Moderates Behaving Badly

Columnist Mike Franc has a great article today titled “Moderates Behaving Badly” which examines the differences between moderates who supported the conservative agenda in 1995 (which according to Franc was a year with conditions very similar to the current political landscape) and the current moderates who are constantly obstructing the conservative Republican agenda.

Here is a good taste of the article:

“The moderates,” Congressional Quarterly noted last year, “are not known for fighting to the bitter end.” Rather, they have acquired a reputation for “caving to pressure from their leaders to preserve their ability to get desired committee assignments and favors in appropriations bills.” Indeed, despite their misgivings, moderates ultimately cried uncle on the president’s tax cuts, renewal of the Patriot Act, last year’s modest retrenchment of federal spending, and the addition of two conservative justices to the Supreme Court. The marriage had its rocky moments, but the warring spouses ultimately found ways to persevere.

Over the last six months, however, Republican moderates have all but filed for divorce. Most notably, they mounted an open assault on the president’s miniscule spending cuts, adding $16 billion in social welfare spending in the Senate and then threatening to do the same in the House. Their tone, moreover, is more overtly confrontational than during previous spats. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., described the president’s proposal to modestly reduce spending on failed welfare programs as “scandalous.” A House moderate even referred to his conservative Republican colleagues as “the other side.” Oops.