REPUBLICANS GET IT

Cash for clunkers was working until it ran out of money. Cash for clunkers was a government stimulus program that really clicked with the public. So cash for clunkers must be stopped, Republicans say -- but don't believe them for a minute when they give their ostensible reasons.

'Cash for Clunkers' Becomes a Republican Target

... Republicans say the problems with the program are another strike against the Obama administration as it pushes for a speedy overhaul of the health care system that would involve a government-run insurance program. They argue that government involvement in any industry is a recipe for disaster.

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said the "cash for clunkers" program was an example of the "stupidity coming out of Washington right now."

"The federal government went bankrupt in one week in the used-car business, and now they want to run our health care system," Mr. DeMint said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "This is crazy to try to rush this thing through again while they’re trying to rush through health care, and they want to get on to cap-and-trade electricity tax. We’ve got to slow this thing down."

On Friday a spokeswoman for Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said Mr. McCain would lead a filibuster against the bill to give the program more money....

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," William Kristol, the conservative editor of The Weekly Standard, said the rebates were going to middle-class people who would have eventually bought a new car anyhow.

Instead of helping the legions of unemployed, the money is going to a "bunch of upper-middle-class people who have some cars sitting around from 12 years ago," Mr. Kristol said. "Now they're just accelerating their purchase to get 4,500 bucks."

Bill Kristol doesn't like this? The same guy who told Republicans they had to kill health-care reform in the Clinton years precisely because it would be a popular Democratic idea, and says the same thing now? Yes, if you think you're smelling a rat, you are.