Republicans seem to be losing track of the distinction between reality and their whims. Last week we saw Dubya's fantasia on arms inspectors, and his OMB director, Josh Bolten, professing to know of benefits to tax cuts which "the art and science of economics" had yet to disclose. (Greenspan's not supposed to be partisan, so it wouldn't be quite proper to cite his respin of that old Republican slogan, "prosperity is just around the corner". Would it?)

And now, new frontiers: the chairman of the House Armed Services committee wants the American armed forces, and their contractors, to buy American whether the stuff they need is made here or not:

As a practical matter, such cross-border programs as the Joint Strike Fighter, a $200 billion joint venture by the United States and Britain to build a new fighter jet and sell it globally, would be jeopardized. Other programs would be equally hard to unscramble — for instance, the Army's new light armored vehicle, the Stryker, designed in Switzerland and being assembled in Canada for an American company.

Even Rumsfeld is opposed...