Leave it to Republicans to waste a golden opportunity to champion fiscal restraint. A day after House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) scored points with conservatives for proposing to strip all earmarks from a mammoth omnibus spending bill, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell rejected the idea outright.

At at press conference today, McConnell outlined an alternative proposal that would combine $70 billion in troop funding with an omnibus bill, preserving an estimated 10,000 pork-barrel projects. In an attempt to mask his plan as fiscally responsible, McConnell said it would include an across-the-board cut to bring the omnibus in line with President Bush’s top-line budget number. (Just one week ago Sen. Jim DeMint warned us that this would happen.)

Sen. Trent Lott made sure reporters knew that Republicans had no intention of cutting the fat: “Earmarks are justified and legitimate … but they do need to pass the smell test. I wouldn’t give up my earmarks.”

Conservatives on Capitol Hill and throughout Washington view McConnell’s proposal as yet another indication that Republican still don’t get it when it comes to fiscal responsibility. “Senate GOPers will be the ones to bring back the earmarks that Obey is trying to eliminate,” one staffer said. “Sickening.”

The Club for Growth put it this way: “It is a shame to see the highest ranking Republicans in the Senate move to the left of the Democrats on earmarks. … Senators McConnell and Lott‚Äôs support for pork projects in the Omnibus is a sad statement about the priorities of the Republican Leadership in the Senate.”

Of course, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. McConnell’s campaign is running commercials back home touting his appetite for spending on things such as $200 million for medical research at Kentucky universities and a tobacco buyout program for Kentucky farmers.

Instead of spurning Obey today, McConnell should have followed Sen. Jim DeMint’s lead and praised the liberal Wisconsin Democrat. Another day, another wasted opportunity.