Ronald Brownstein:
Washington Outlook
GOP Leaders Leaving Sacrifice for the Generations to Come

Today, President Bush and the Republican majority in Congress are engaged in a project unprecedented in American history � pursuing massive tax cuts while the nation is at war. The result is that we are paying for the war in Iraq, like the war in Afghanistan and the entire post-9/11 buildup in military strength and homeland security, almost entirely by increasing the national debt.

Bush is presiding over annual federal deficits so large that the Congressional Budget Office projects the publicly held federal debt will soar by 50% through 2010. In effect, that means passing on the bill for our defense to our children.

No earlier generation of Americans has done anything like it. McCain is right; it's a mark of shame.