Powerline Exposed?

Mona at Unqualified Offerings has a cow over this Paul Mirengoff quote:

When I first heard George W. Bush talking about "compassionate conservatism" in 1999, I figured (and certainly hoped) that it was at least 80 percent ad campaign and no more than 20 percent policy guide. Eight years later, it seems to me that, in practice, the Bush administration probably hasn’t strayed too far to the wrong side of that proportion.

I tend to agree with Paul on the former point, but I wish he were more right on the latter. The splurging of tax-payers' money to make rich brats like Bush feel better about themselves is a defining characteristic of a certain kind of liberalism, not conservatism. And no, it's not "heroic" to spend other people's money on your pet bleeding heart projects.