The Tilting Yard - WSJ.com

The Tilting Yard - WSJ.com: "The GOP's Lame-Duck Push
July 9, 2008; Page A13

In his landmark 1938 study of political corruption, 'The Politicos,' Matthew Josephson recalled for his readers the final moments of the Republican 43rd Congress, meeting in a lame-duck session in early 1875. Although the party had just been defeated at the polls in what Josephson called 'a great popular mandate for currency expansion,' its leaders proceeded to pass a measure designed to contract the money supply.

It is in moments of defeat rather than those of triumph that politicians 'show their real hand,' Josephson observed. Masks are dropped in the stampede; brutal essence shoves aside compassionate appearance.

A similar mood of desperation hangs over Washington in this last year of the Bush administration. Republicans lost their majority in Congress in 2006, and the omens are bad for November 2008. Even if GOP presidential candidate John McCain manages to prevail, his record as a senator hardly suggests an administration as slavishly pro-business as this one. (As a candidate for president, of course, Mr. McCain would like you to believe otherwise.)

Hence the panic: Whatever items remain on the business wish list must get done immediately, consequences be damned.

The Federal Communications Commission is offering the rankest re-enactment of that 1875 moment. Throughout"