Budget Hawk Stew

"Senate Democrats are furious at their lead budget negotiator, Sen. Kent Conrad, for crafting a blueprint that they think moves their party too far to the right, a leadership source said. Conrad (D-N.D.), who has been negotiating for months in secret with Republicans in the so-called Gang of Six -- we prefer Slash Mob, but it ain't catching on -- to craft a plan that might win bipartisan acceptance, abruptly dropped the veil and rolled out his own offering Tuesday for his party colleagues -- to brutal reviews. "He's going to be a man without a country," the leadership source said, describing a contentious luncheon. The problem for Democrats is that Conrad has adopted a plan that resembles the work he's done with legislators across the aisle -- which was meant to be a compromise position. In bringing it forward himself, it sets the starting point for the Democratic position in a more conservative spot than the President's budget -- which itself was already a compromise and includes a spending freeze for federal workers amid its many concessions to the GOP."