Demagogue

The GOP congressional majority is "at risk" of losing its ruling status "because of exhaustion, scandals and, critics would say, the rigidity of their ideology and failure to learn from policy failures in a changing world." Not a kind assessment -- and, even more damning, it's coming from the Wall Street Journal's David Rogers.

As Rogers explains, even the rising criticism of GOP leaders by fiscal conservatives hasn't changed the behavior of Hastert and company:

Despite scandals and promises of change, the Appropriations Committee persists in setting aside billions of dollars for home-state projects without disclosing the sponsors of such "earmarks."

To get around budget caps, the committee even opted to designate $507 million for 20 military construction projects as war-related expenditures that could be financed from an emergency reserve outside the agreed-upon spending limits.