Benedict Arnolds of the GOP

Because of the concentrated efforts of millions of Republicans all over America, Susan Collins (Maine) was re-elected to the Senate, surviving a challenge once thought to be serious. She won, in large part, because she was able to drown her Democratic adversary in a sea of campaign spending made possible by donations from Republicans throughout the nation. As a result of their efforts, the GOP preserved its 40th vote in the Senate.

And when Saxby Chambliss was forced into a runoff in the Georgia Senate race, Republicans from all over the United States poured out their hearts and their funds to get him re-elected, all to save the 41st vote and be able to filibuster Democrats' big spending proposals.

Now the actions of three people who told their voters that they were Republicans have eliminated any hope that the GOP has for influence during the next two years. By making their own deals with the Obama administration and settling for cosmetic improvements in the so-called stimulus package, Sens. Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania have sold out their party, their state and their supporters.

Don't buy their excuse that they shaved more than $100 billion in spending from the Senate version. By the time the Senate-House conference reconciles the differences between the versions of the legislation passed by the two houses, most of that spending will be back in the law anyway.

Collins, Snowe and Specter had a chance to send a message to Obama that he had to deal with the Republican Party to avert a filibuster. They could have made it clear that genuine bipartisan cooperation was necessary to pass legislation. These three senators, pledged to cut taxes and oppose massive growth in federal spending, could have demanded a two-to-one ratio for tax cuts over spending, rather than the reverse, as Obama is succeeding in getting.

Instead, the three wimped out and caved in for peanuts from Obama.

This stimulus package will:

— Hurt economic recovery by elbowing aside private borrowers and consumers as the government goes to the front of the line to borrow adequate funds to cover its deficit.

— Invite massive inflation in the future as consumers and businesspeople sit on most of the money until times improve. Then, when confidence begins to return — no thanks to the stimulus package — they will deluge the economy with money, triggering massive inflation.

— Expand government and spend borrowed money on projects that may have some long-term merit but are scarcely our top priority right now.

Republicans in Maine and Pennsylvania need to learn their lesson and assure that these three senators face primary challenges. Real conservatives, who oppose larger government, must stand up to these three phony Republicans.

They'll get their chance. Specter is up for re-election in 2010. He should have been defeated in 2004 when a real conservative, Pat Toomey, opposed him in a primary and only narrowly lost. Better luck next time.

The very concept of checks and balances evaporated last week on Capitol Hill when these three senators sold out their colleagues and stripped their conference of its power. Now Obama can buy off the GOP senator by senator without having to make genuine compromises with the other party to pass his agenda.

In 1993, Clinton was not able to buy Republicans retail. Only Vermont's Jim Jeffords, who later left the party, gave way and dealt independently with the president. Now, with their backs to the wall, facing a spending package that will consign America to rampant inflation, massive debt and continued recession, these three senators have gone back on their most fundamental pledge to their constituents — to act in the public good.

To find out more about Dick Morris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 DICK MORRIS AND EILEEN MCGANN

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