Why didn't Republicans vote against the farm bill?

Robert Novak:

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, 38 and having served less than five terms, did not leap over a dozen of his seniors to become the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee by bashing GOP leaders. But an angry Ryan delivered unscripted remarks on the House floor last Wednesday as the farm bill neared passage: "This bill is an absence of leadership. This bill shows we are not leading."

Ryan's fellow reformer Jeff Flake of Arizona, 45 and in his fourth term, is less cautious about defying the leadership and has been kept off key committees. On Wednesday, he said of a $300 billion bill that raises farm subsidies and is filled with non-farm pork, "Sometimes, here in Washington, we tend to drink our own bath water and believe our own press releases."

A bill that raises spending 44 percent above last year's level has been approved by a majority of both Senate and House Republicans, dooming any chance of sustaining President Bush's promised veto. GOP leaders were divided, with Bush sounding an uncertain trumpet. Today's Republican Party -- divided, drifting, demoralized -- is epitomized by the farm bill.

At the moment Congress passed the farm bill, Republicans were terrified by the previous day's defeat in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, the third straight supposedly safe Republican seat lost in a special election. Fearing a November tsunami for the Democrats, incumbent Republicans talked about following their new standard-bearer, John McCain, against pork. But that's not the way they voted last week.

...

Republicans missed a great opportunity to get on the right side of this issue and instead jumped into the slop with the Democrats. Every major media organ has pointed out how bad this bill is. It was a rare opportunity for the GOP to get some good government publicity that they desperately need and they slipped and fell into the muck. Come on guys. At least act like you care about spending a little. It is your only hope of getting voters back on your side.

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