Friday, September 08, 2006

Are Republicans like New Coke?

Back on April 23rd, 1985, Coke introduced New Coke and discontinued the original recipe. Peter Jennings of ABC News interrupted General Hospital to break the story on national TV.  Although taste tests (ie, "polls") showed that folks preferred the taste of New Coke over the original recipe, when New Coke was released Americans were outraged.  On July 11th, 1985 Coke re-introduced the original recipe as Classic Coke.

We're we promised that if the Republicans ran the government, that they'd be fiscal conservatives, reign in taxes, reduce the size of government, and cut government spending.  That didn't exactly happen as Bush won and both the House and Senate went GOP.  Yes, they did reign in taxes.  But fiscal conservatives?  Cut government spending?  Hardly.  They created a huge new entitlement program to give prescription drugs for seniors.  Plenty of pork spending flies through Congress like the "bridge to nowhere," and Bush didn't veto a thing.  The size of government expanded greatly after 9/11 with the addition of Homeland Security. 

Somebody fiddled with the recipe.  Are these New Republicans?  Are American conservatives and folks in the middle outraged enough to demand the GOP return to Classic Republicans? 

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