August 24, 2008 7:54 PM

Which Part of the New Deal Was a Bender?

Every once in awhile, conservatives reveal just how reactionary they truly are. For example, in Friday's Wall Street Journal, regular columnist Kimberley Strassel bemoans the possibility of a 60 vote filibuster proof Democratic Senate majority (if only they were so tough!) by reference to the world's "greatest deliberative body" going on a bender and passing the New Deal under FDR. We know that conservatives think Social Security, which lifted millions out of poverty, was and is a disaster. How about calling for the elimination of the FDIC, part of the New Deal that ended a banking crisis and helped turn around the Great Depression? Of course, we are in the middle of a financial meltdown with bank failures rising.