The fire over Bush's Spending continues to burn (my previous blog entries here and here).  More evidence is popping up that at least a few others are beginning to recognize Bush/Congress' betrayal of small government principles.  The Hill reports:

Conservative Republican frustration over the failure of the Bush administration and the House Republican leadership to restrain federal spending has boiled over in recent days, producing a rare confrontation between GOP lawmakers and party leaders.

...Feeney, a former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives whom many see as a rising star in the party, reportedly told Bush: “I came here to cut entitlements, not grow them.”

Sources said Bush shot back, “Me too, pal,” and hung up the phone.

HOW THE HELL can W see any of this as cutting entitlements?   GOD this makes me so angry.  Democrats - you oughta publish more of THIS kind of stuff if you want to sour Bush's support in the core.  As a side note, if this crap keeps up anyone wanna help draft Tom Feeney?

The Hill notes that conservative thinktank stalwart, the Heritage Foundation, is openly critical and even courted hostile Democrats to help stop the plan:

... a major conservative think tank that aided House Democrats in nearly derailing Bush’s top domestic initiative.  Although the House GOP assembled a 400-member coalition in support of the bill, the Heritage Foundation opposed the bill and even held a briefing for members in the Dirksen Building the day before the vote.

...“So far, we’ve not seen any penalties coming our way,” said Stuart Butler, vice president for economic and domestic policy at Heritage. “[We have] quite a long history of taking issue with the Republican leadership and White House.”

Separately, the WashPost pours it on:

Last month’s passage of a Medicare prescription drug benefit that could cost $2 trillion over 20 years, after three years of sharp increases in federal spending, has provoked an unusual barrage of criticism of President Bush from conservative leaders.

THE WALL Street Journal editorial page accuses Bush of a “Medicare fiasco” and a “Medicare giveaway.” Paul Weyrich, a coordinator of the conservative movement, sees “disappointment in a lot of quarters.” Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with the National Center for Policy Analysis, pronounces himself “apoplectic.” An article in the American Spectator calls Bush’s stewardship on spending “nonexistent,” while Steve Moore of the Club for Growth labels Bush a “champion big-spending president.”

So how do we get out of this mess?  Well, one way to make a politician listen is to make this a voting issue in '04.   Arnold Kling called November a Bad Month for Libertarians and see some light in Lieberman's candidacy.