The Road to Damascus

The road to Damascus is crowded this year... with Republicans:

Deep public worry about the federal budget deficit has jumped since December, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, upping the ante on the White House's fiscal responsibility summit that kicks off later this morning.

...

...74 percent of Republicans in the new poll expressed grave worry about the deficit, 29 points higher than in December when George W. Bush held the reins.

This poll certainly does lend credence to my belief that concern over deficit spending among Republicans is largely a political ploy rather than a deeply held respect for fiscal responsibility. It's also worth noting that the same poll found a fall in concern among Democrats, but only by 4 points. Oddly, the Washington Post does not provide a margin of error for the poll. So it's even possible that the drop in concern among Democrats falls within the poll's margin of error.



(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)