From: hnix@adelphia.net
They like the defense kickbacks just like the repugs.
--
"Nebuchadnezzar II" wrote in message
news:Xq9ng.2530$Wh.892@trnddc04...
> By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
> AP Political Writer
>
> LOS ANGELES
>
> Republicans intent on safeguarding power in Washington have drifted from
> the values of the Reagan presidency and ushered in an era of reckless
> spending and government growth that threatens to drive them from office,
> U.S. Sen. John McCain said in prepared remarks Friday.
>
> "Why has our party, the party of small government, lately adopted the
> practices of our opponents who believe the bigger the government the
> better? I'm afraid it's because at times we value our incumbency more than
> our principles," the Arizona Republican said in a speech to be delivered
> at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
>
> "We came to office to reduce the size of government. Lately, we have
> increased the size of government in order to stay in office," McCain said.
> "Soon, if we don't remember what we were elected to do, we will lose both
> our principles and our office and we will leave as part of our legacy a
> mountain of debt and bankrupt entitlement programs that our children's
> grandchildren will be suffering from."
>
> McCain, a likely contender for his party's 2008 presidential nomination,
> was scheduled to address a sold-out audience at the hilltop library where
> Reagan is buried.
>
> With President Bush's popularity at a historic low, McCain's remarks come
> as another warning from within the Republican ranks that the party is in
> danger as the November elections approach.
>
> Alluding to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, McCain said, "The best and
> only lasting answer to the problem of political corruption is a smaller
> government."
>
> Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to federal crimes in Washington and
> Miami, was a leading lobbyists who cultivated top Republican leaders,
> including former Majority Leader Tom Delay, who left Congress and is
> facing campaign money laundering charges. Earlier this week, a jury found
> former White House aide David Safavian guilty of covering up his dealings
> with the disgraced lobbyist.
>
> McCain went on to deride his party for the explosive growth in the
> practice of "earmarking," in which House and Senate members steer federal
> spending to pet programs without review.
>
> The number of earmarks tripled during a 10-year stretch of Republican
> control in Congress, "not a record Ronald Reagan would have been proud
> of," McCain said.
>
> "We need to stop this, now," he said.
>
> McCain's visit to the library comes at a time when critics have suggested
> he is shifting to the political right in advance of the 2008 Republican
> presidential primaries, in which conservatives hold great sway. He
> supports the Iraq war, but has criticized Bush's handling of it. In
> February he voted to extend Bush's tax cuts on dividends and capital
> gains, which he once had opposed.
>
> In his remarks, he called himself a Reagan disciple.
>
> In a rare reference to his days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain
> said he learned from other imprisoned military personnel that Reagan, then
> governor of California, and his wife Nancy "were committed to our
> liberation and our cause.
>
> "When walls were all I had for a world, I learned about a man whose
> courage and love gave me hope in a desolate place. His faith honored us,"
> McCain said.
>
> At a time when America was divided by Vietnam and torn by social upheaval,
> Reagan "possessed an unshakable faith in America's spirit and greatness
> that proved more durable than the prevailing political sentiments of the
> time," he added.
>
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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