But who in the last few years has been more "responsible" (to use a word favored by budget hawks)?

According to Reuters, Palin's decision to cancel the bridge "earn[ed] her admirers from earmark critics and budget hawks from around the nation.

Discretionary spending has jumped 27 percent in the last two years; budget hawks complain Congressional pork is up more than 40 percent.

The budget hawks' zeal tends to vary inversely with the size of the program under attack.

The door to the services he needed was apparently being guarded by budget hawks.

Witness the much-hyped revolt of the "budget hawks."

"Where have all the Republican budget hawks gone?"

In the U.K., we are seeing the results of monumental policy blunders that could well be repeated here if Republican budget hawks seize power next November.

Congressional budget hawks will no doubt frown at the size of the state's windfall.

Far from budget hawks, they enter Capitol history as fiscal four-flushers.