GOP Then/GOP Now

I've written in the past about the frightening willingness of Bush Republicans to abandon their party values if it means a quick buck or personal favor. One of the most egregious examples has been the undermining of states' right by the GOP-- the very people who profess to hate big government, but managed to expand it under Reagan, Bush and Bush II.

THEN (link at top):

Pete McCloskey earned a permanent place in American history when, in 1973, he became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Richard Nixon's impeachment and for US withdrawal from Vietnam. (. . .)

McCloskey says the main reason he decided to challenge Pombo is that Pombo personifies the pay-to-play corruption, ideological fanaticism and anti-environmentalism that have taken over the Republican Party. "Tom DeLay wouldn't deal with any lobbying firm that didn't employ Republicans and contribute to Republican candidates," says McCloskey, "and Pombo was one of his top lieutenants."

NOW (with many thanks to OD1):

Exhibit A: Whether Ohioans are to gain more protection against fraud when they refinance a mortgage or buy a house depends largely on what the Ohio House does in the next three months.

Supporters of tougher mortgage-industry regulations scored a major victory last month when the Senate approved what they call the strongest anti-predatorylending bill to ever pass a chamber of the Ohio legislature.

Exhibit B: But even if the House also passes the measure designed to offer consumer safeguards against shady mortgage deals, the federal government might preempt much of the Statehouse’s work.

Proponents of a bipartisan congressional bill written by Reps. Bob Ney and Paul E. Kanjorski say uniform national predatory-lending standards are needed instead of an expanding patchwork of state and local laws. (. . .)

Mortgage bankers gave Ney more than $89,000 during the 2004 election cycle and have pumped $51,000 into his 2006 re-election campaign thus far, according to figures compiled for The Dispatch by Dwight L. Morris & Associates, a nonpartisan campaign-finance research company. Overall, Ney and Kanjorski have been among the top 10 recipients of mortgage-banking money since 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

There you have it, plain as day. The death of true conservatism in America.