For Governors, It's Never The Spending
Read this New York Times story today and note that the states' governors don't blame their fiscal problems on overspending. Oh no - it is always the fault of too little revenue. Note also that they're already laying the groundwork for next year's fiscal crisis:

Governors said they believed that the main cause of the shortfalls was the problems on Wall Street. They said they were worried that the continued turmoil, driven by reports of corporate abuses, would make things even worse.

Translation: Next year, when we need another tax increase, please blame Wall Street, not our profligate spending.

But at least Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton accepts some of the blame for his state's budget gap this year: "We anticipated and built a budget based on a recovery beginning earlier this year, January or February, and blooming into a full-blown recovery. That obviously has not happened yet."

Translation: We passed a budget we couldn't afford, hoping the revenue would come in to pay for it. Hmmm. Sounds like Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist, doesn't it?