Both parties are prone to overspending because of the nature of our political system. However, the Bush era has certainly made it difficult for a rational person to see the Republicans as fiscally conservative. \nI guess as long as they try to keep taxes low and disregard the impact on the deficit, they think they are conservative.\nThey can still point their fingers at the "tax and spend" liberals who want to have a better balance between revenues and expenditures. For my money, I'd rather raise taxes than run up the kind of deficit we now have.\nIt's also the case that Republicans in general do not mind spending on the military and on corporate aid. They just don't like the evil "social" programs. Objectively, the rich have gotten richer during Bush's reign, and that seems quite okay with the Republicans.