TAX EVASION.

TAX EVASION. To add a bit to what Ezra argued, the dreadful effects of Republican fiscal irresponsibility extend beyond the question of universal health care. Assisted by the calculated indifference of the administration, the services are hiding an increasing percentage of their day-to-day costs in defense supplementals, allowing them to escape difficult political scrutiny. As J. at Armchair Generalist points out, the combination of corruption, sketchy, politically driven defense accounting practices, and an aversion to taxation of any sort makes it bloody difficult to conduct a war:

The crime here is not just that the Republicans have fostered a disregard for responsible fiscal practices and have encouraged the runaway costs of this military operation. It's that they're actually going to enjoy using this situation for political gain - watching the Democrats try to be responsible by raising money through taxes to pay for the military's needs and then blaming the Dems for being irresponsible "tax and spend" liberals -- rather than trying to face this national challenge in a bipartisan fashion.

Right, and the fact that, from the beginning, the administration and its congressional allies foreswore a responsible fiscal response to the War on Terror should remind us that the Republican Party was at least as committed to defeating the Democrats as it was to fighting the terrorists.

--Robert Farley