The Week

■ Ann Coulter, a contributor to National Review Online, had a sharp point: We won’t know for sure that Gary Condit is guilty until Alan Dershowitz defends him.

■ Estimates of the federal budget surplus over the next decade are shrinking, partly because of a slowing economy and partly because of Bush’s tax cut. Democrats are using the new surplus numbers to make a convoluted argument: The tax cut has left the federal government with so little money that it will have to use some Medicare funds to cover nonMedicare expenses. As they put it, Bush is going to “raid Medicare.” Even by the standards of Beltway accounting, the Democrats’ claim is ridiculous. Medicare doesn’t have extra money to cover other programs; it is in deficit itself. The Democrats cook the books by looking at only part of Medicare. But this maneuver could backfire on them. If it really is important to keep the surplus high—a dubious proposition—then it is all the more important to keep spending restrained. When President Bush vetoes bloated spending bills this fall, he can fling the Democrats’ words back at them. In fact, he can start making the case for those vetoes now.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

■ Ann Coulter, a contributor to National Review Online, had a sharp point: We won’t know for sure that Gary Condit is guilty until Alan Dershowitz defends him.

■ Estimates of the federal budget surplus over the next decade are shrinking, partly because of a slowing economy and partly because of Bush’s tax cut. Democrats are using the new surplus numbers to make a convoluted argument: The tax cut has left the federal government with so little money that it will have to use some Medicare funds to cover nonMedicare expenses. As they put it, Bush is going to “raid Medicare.” Even by the standards of Beltway accounting, the Democrats’ claim is ridiculous. Medicare doesn’t have extra money to cover other programs; it is in deficit itself. The Democrats cook the books by looking at only part of Medicare. But this maneuver could backfire on them. If it really is important to keep the surplus high—a dubious proposition—then it is all the more important to keep spending restrained. When President Bush vetoes bloated spending bills this fall, he can fling the Democrats’ words back at them. In fact, he can start making the case for those vetoes now.