THIS IS NOT ->Delawareliberal

In this fun Hartford Courant story "Fake Moderate" Michael Castle tries to sound calm and relaxed about the fact that the jig is up trying to pretend that he does not support the radical right wing agenda of the Bush Adminstration.

And Democrats will hammer away at the Bush budget's potential human toll, as they remind voters that Shays, Simmons and other centrists are only "so-called moderates," as Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District, put it.

Her accuracy depends on one's interpretation of the data. Simmons, Shays and Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-5th District, were among the top 11 House Republicans who opposed Bush most frequently last year, according to Congressional Quarterly's annual study.

But that still meant Simmons backed Bush on 65 percent of the 46 votes tallied by Congressional Quarterly in which the president took a position, while Shays supported Bush 57 percent of the time and Johnson voted with the president 59 percent of the time.

Castle, the House Republican from Delaware, shrugged off any concern that he has a political problem unique to 2006. "Moderate Republicans," he said, "always are in some difficult circumstance or another."

I know. I was thinking the same thing... The poor guy! Nobody understands how tough it is to back the President while pretending not to back him.

Nice election year talking point Mike !