Faux fiscal conservatives

This morning on Morning Edition, in a report on the president's plan to create a commission to look at reducing the deficit, Andrea Seabrooke referred to conservatives who oppose participating in it as "fiscal conservatives." Republicans, under George W. Bush eliminated a federal surplus and, by the time they no longer controlled the White House and Congress, left us with a trillion dollar deficit. Massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, two wars that never found their way into the budget, and an unfunded prescription drug plan, do not make for fiscal conservatism, and it would be useful if reporters stopped applying the label to anyone who voted for those things. Namely, the "fiscal conservatives" that make up the Republican Party.