Going into the 2010 elections, Republicans are offering themselves as the common sense party, the party that will tighten purse strings, cut taxes, balance budgets, and shrink the size of government.<\/p>\n
They’re responding to the fact that voters are sincerely nervous about the amount of spending (and borrowing) by Democrats in Washington.<\/p>\n
But in interviews yesterday with three top GOP contenders — vying for House seats in the NY-20th and NY23rd districts — it was hard to find much in the way of specifics or straight talk.<\/p>\n
Chris Gibson, who is vying to unseat Glens Falls Democrat Scott Murphy in the 20th district, fares the best on this score.<\/p>\n
He talks bluntly about shrinking our homeland security apparatus down to its pre-9\/11 size.\u00a0 And as a retired Army colonel, he also embraces the idea of cost reductions for the US military.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to the big-ticket items — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Gibson suggested that a revitalized economy would offset the need for serious cuts.<\/p>\n
“You’re asking about a future view of America that is pessimistic.\u00a0 I have an optimistic view of America.\u00a0 Let’s get the private sector going again…I refuse to believe in America that we need to turn the thermostat down and put a sweater on.\u00a0 That is not the kind of vision that I have for America.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
During last night’s NY-23 debate in Saranac Lake, meanwhile, Doug Hoffman and Matt Doheny offered even fewer specifics about sacrifices that might be needed.<\/p>\n
Asked to name a single major cut to a government program or service in the North Country, they declined and instead suggested that voters should trust their broad philosophical promises.<\/p>\n
They also suggested that the real leadership on budget cutting would come from other lawmakers, and from the GOP’s top brass.<\/p>\n
“When I get down to congress, I will not be alone,” Hoffman said.\u00a0 “I will have help in making decisions like that.\u00a0 I will not be the only one making those decisions.”<\/p>\n
“One person can’t do it,” Doheny agreed.\u00a0 “But there’s a lot of us who are going to be new down in Washington and I can assure you, we’ll go through that budget line by line.”<\/p>\n
The problem with these promises is that we’ve been here before and we got burned.<\/p>\n
In 1994, Republicans took control of the House under an identical banner of of fiscal discipline.\u00a0 They quickly ramped up earmark spending to the highest levels ever seen.<\/p>\n
In 2000, voters gave the GOP complete control of the Federal government, including the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
For six years — at a time when the economy was booming — Republicans still managed to run up the largest deficits ever seen.<\/p>\n
They did so by cutting taxes while also boosting the size and growth of government to unprecedented levels.<\/p>\n
When then-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill raised alarms about the level of debt, Vice President Dick Cheney told him, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.\u00a0 We won the midterms.\u00a0 This is our due.”<\/p>\n
Once again going into this year’s midterm election, Republicans are giving plenty of details about the tax cuts they want to shower on voters.<\/p>\n
But they’re offering almost no specifics about significant cuts they will make.<\/p>\n
So here’s the question.<\/p>\n
If they lack the courage of their convictions out on the campaign trail, what will they do when it comes time to make the hard choices in Washington?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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