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.