With Christine O’Donnell picking up steam in Delaware’s GOP Senate primary, Rep. Mike Castle, one of the House’s moderate elders, is ratcheting up his lame-duck rhetoric in talk-radio interviews:
HUGH HEWITT: The Democrats want to come back and raise taxes and spend a whole bunch of money. What’s your message about those issues, if in fact you win the primary and the general, Mike Castle?
MIKE CASTLE: Well, my message Hugh is, first of all, I think it’s a hugely important matter that they are apparently announcing now that they want to wait to consider the ‘01 and ‘03 tax reductions until the lame duck session, which I think is a problem. Obviously, they’re leery of voting on them – we go back into session next week, and we’re in session for two or three weeks and they’re leery of voting on them during that time for fear their own Democrats won’t support to continue the tax deductions, which in effect will be a very significant tax increase so they’re going to try and put it off until a lame duck session. So I think it’s very important Republicans be elected in the elections of November 2nd so they can’t play any shenanigans in the lame duck session. I frankly don’t think that’s a good time or place to be doing anything of this nature so we need to make sure these tax cuts are reinstituted and that occurs be it now or the lame duck session or whenever it is going to be. They clearly seem to be setting up some sort of opposition to continuing the tax cuts that President Bush got done and we have a real responsibility to try to fight that.