Tom DeLay stopped by the Heritage Foundation to deliver a speech on “Action and Accountability: Restraining Spending and Redesigning Government.” Considering the advertised topic, it might seem DeLay was an odd choice. After all, DeLay and his colleagues clearly don’t believe in accountability when it comes to administration oversight, and when it comes to spending, the recently-indicted former Majority Leader recently explained his belief that the federal government’s massive budget is now waste-free.
But DeLay managed to address the subject of restraining spending anyway. In fact, he told the powerful DC think tank that he’s identified the principal culprit in Congress’ fiscally irresponsible ways: the minority party.
“Washington Democrats believe that every single penny of the $2.5 trillion the federal government lays out every year is wisely spent on efficient programs vital to the national interests of the American people. No wonder their new slogan is, ‘We can do better.’ Anyone could do better than that!”
That DeLay, he’s quite a kidder. In fact, though I wasn’t on hand for the remarks, I’m going to assume DeLay was joking, because the alternative — he meant it — is too bizarre to believe.
He must have been fooling around, maybe going for some kind of ironic humor. After all, Dems have been in the House minority for 11 years. Since 2002, there’s been a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and Republican House. In that time, Republicans have run up a record of spending increases unmatched since the Johnson administration, along with the most massive debt increase in the history of the world.
It was DeLay who ignored House ethics rules to push through a ridiculously expensive Medicare plan in 2003, and it was DeLay who shepherded the most bloated and expensive transportation bill in American history (6,371 pet projects, a new pork record) through the House earlier this year.
And DeLay wants conservatives to believe that Democrats, without the votes to stop GOP budgets, are to blame for Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility?
Good one, Tom. That kind of sense of humor will be welcome by your fellow inmates.