This Choice Isn't Even Close

WSJ Opinion piece by John Fund: A GOP Choice: Tom Coburn or Ted Stevens:

The Republican Party is facing what Ronald Reagan called "a time for choosing." A real argument is raging over how much it should turn its back on the bad habits that cost it control of Congress in 2006.

Just after that debacle, Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, the father of the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," encountered Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, the antipork crusader who had held up many of the projects so many members believe are the key to their re-election. Mr. Stevens said, "Well, Tom, I hope you're satisfied for helping us lose the election." Mr. Coburn replied, "No, Ted, you lost us this election."...

...Reagan quoted a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1796, warning that allowing Congress to spend federal money for local projects would set off "a scene of scramble among the members (for) who can get the most money wasted in their State, and they will always get most who are meanest." Reagan didn't think that represented good government or good politics. Republicans today should heed his warning.