'This doesn't make sense to us.'

Finally some good news out of Washington.  In Senate Finance Committee wrangling, a lot of Senators, some Republican, said some things that are good to hear.  The money quote:

Voinovich said the budget rebellion reflects increasing voter unease about Republican priorities: "There's uncertainty. There's anxiety," he said. "It's the common sense of the American people looking in on us and questioning what we're doing. People say, 'This doesn't make sense to us.' "

That's right.  It doesn't make sense to us.  Thank you for noticing.

Other high points:

In an 82 to 9 vote yesterday, the Senate approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to require Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to disclose to Congress the existence of clandestine terrorism detention facilities in foreign countries.

Joining the panel's Democrats, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) declared she could not support a tax cut that primarily benefited the rich as Congress was trying to cut programs for the poor.

Olympia Snowe, by the way, gets my vote for having the most aesthetically pleasing website.  I don't agree with much of what she has done, but at least her site is not so garish as most congressional sites.  

The conclusion of the whole affair is encapsulated nicely here:

"The fractures were always there. The difference was the White House was always able to hold them in line because of perceived power," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. "After Tuesday's election, it's 'Why are we following these guys? They're taking us off the cliff.' "

Some might say the whole country already has been taken off a cliff.