Cunning Doyle.

In a discussion with one of my friends at our Lincoln Day Dinner an interesting observation was made about Doyle and his maneuvers were contrasted with the Dems in DC.

President Bush presented his budget and the Dems who had up to that point had been screaming about deficit spending and how the GOP was wrecklessly spending our way into eternal debt. Well what song to the Dems now scream? They complain about the slashing and burning of social programs and the like. That is it is a loud and clear clue that the budget presented is indeed leaner and more like what we expect from a Republican.

Now what did Doyle do? If I understand it correctly Doyle's budget freezes much spending while the GOP proposal allows for modest growth. That is Doyle outflanked the Wisconsin GOP's right side on this issue! Now, I do not believe Doyle expected his budget to be passed as is and was hoping the GOP would reflexively oppose his plan. This is the essence of Senator Ellis' complaint with the budget. Senator Ellis is not looking to limit growth but he wants actual cuts to spending.

That is he wants the state budget to go from $10.00 to $9.00 not to $10.50 (where normally it would go to $11.25).