Lessons Not Learned

Josh Marshall makes a good point.

Then there’s the president’s great line from the speech: “It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces.”
No, it’s not. Actually, every actual fact that’s surfaced in the last two weeks points to just the opposite conclusion. There was no lack of federal authority to handle the situation. There was faulty organization, poor coordination and incompetence.
Show me the instance where the federal government was prevented from doing anything that needed to be done because it lacked the requisite authority.
This is like what we were talking about a few days ago. This is how repressive governments operate — mixing inefficiency with authoritarian tendencies.
You don’t repair disorganized or incompetent government by granting it more power. You fix it by making it more organized and more competent. If conservatism can’t grasp that point, what is it good for?

I’m starting to believe that the term “conservatism” no longer applies to modern conservatives. After last night’s speech, every moderate fiscal conservative and libertarian must have spontaneously combusted. All my life I’ve been told that small government is a pillar of Republican belief. Only the fringes in both parties believe in reckless federal government spending. Fiscal responsibility has always been part of my own belief; living side by side with my social liberal ideals.
When it all gets boiled down, we see a failed presidency trying desperately to regain the foothold it so strongly grabbed on to for over four years. People are beginning to see that the modern Republican Party does not a smart government make. Why else would President Bush appoint Karl Rove to oversee the Gulf Coast reconstruction?
The GOP should be shaking in their boots. In fact, I’ll say right now that on election night 2006, I will be watching Fox News for the first time in years. Seeing Sean Hannity have an aneurism on live television will be a cool thing.