Thomas "Tip" DeLay

It is official. The GOP is now exactly in the same position Democrats were in circa 1993 -- the disconnected, unapologetic party of bloated federal government. Only demographic trends and the Democrats' steadfast refusal to evince a lick of sense will keep 2006 from being 1994 in reverse.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has declared the federal budget to be fat-free, a mad thought on any day and positively deranged on the heels of pork laden highway and energy bills.