Moderates on the Warpath: A Case Study

Is anything more emblematic of the utter vacuousness of moderate Republicans than the deal struck with the Democrat majority by the three "centrists" in the Senate?   With high dudgeon, Collins, Snowe and Specter announce they smacked the majority party around and got $100 billion trimmed from a nearly $1 trillion stimulus plan.  However, word has it that this hard-won victory of Republican moderates will be short-lived as the Senate-House conference committee eliminates these cuts in the reconciliation of the Senate and House bills.    But don't worry.  Steely-eyed, Senator Collins made it plain that if these cuts are re-instated, that she ... will not vote for the reconciliation package.   Democrats in both chambers thereupon began trembling in fear.  Or perhaps from barely controlled laughter; it's rather hard to tell from this distance.   via email