Top House Republican says GOP acted like winos Michael Roston

Published: Wednesday March 7, 2007 Print This Email This In an interview with the New York Sun yesterday, a top House Republican excoriated the behavior of his party leading up to the November 2006 Elections, saying they acted like "winos." The remark came as Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) discussed the subject of earmarks. Hensarling is a top House Republican leader. He serves as the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, which describes itself at its website as "a group of over 110 House Republicans organized for the purpose of advancing a conservative social and economic agenda." When Rep. Hensarling was asked about the Democratic earmark reform program, he remarked "I'm not personally religiously opposed to earmarks." But he said that his party has not managed them responsibly. "Just like the surgeon general might have told the American populous as a whole that perhaps one glass of red wine a day can be good for your health, he really didn't mean that advice for winos," Hensarling quipped. "Unfortunately, too many in our conference have not shown that they can handle earmarks responsibly." The Texas Republican also acknowledged that on questions of fiscal responsibility, "somewhere along the way, we lost our way." However, he criticized the media for its focus on Republican ethical foibles. "For whatever reason, the media seemed to pay a little bit more attention to our folks who were ethically challenged than to their folks that were ethically challenged," he complained. But he held out hope for a Republican comeback in the future. "I am convinced that the electorate did not shift to the left," he insisted. "They didn't hire the Democrats for what the Democrats believe in. They fired the Republicans, partly as a protest to the policies in Iraq, but more so because they didn't see Republicans living up to their own principles." The full interview can be read at the New York Sun's Politics website.



