Republicans always care about the deficit more when a Democrat is president, so the Republican revolution had to do something useful, and they decided to focus

Republicans always care about the deficit more when a Democrat is president, so the Republican revolution had to do something useful, and they decided to focus on the debt and the deficit since Russia and China were too peaceful back then, and they were wary to go after illegal immigration after Pete Wilson losing California. Bill Clinton, being a blue dog, really had no problem with that (they also got to cut a lot of welfare that Bill Clinton also didn't care much about). But this actually horrified the Republican leadership, as what they say and what they want are usually very different, hence Dick Cheney's comment on surpluses being evil.