An ‘inconvenient truth’ for GOP war on earmarks.
By on Jan 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
An ‘inconvenient truth’ for GOP war on earmarks.
Though President Bush and congressional conservatives are seeking “to shame Democrats for failing to kill the practice of earmarking money for pet projects,” an “inconvenient truth” undermining their strategy is the fact that “Democrats last year actually approved fewer earmarks than Republicans did when they ran Congress.” Compared to the Republican-controlled Congress in 2006, “the total number of earmarks is down” by nearly 25 percent.
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Hmmmm. GOP has 3X the earmarks of Democrats, and the Democrats should be ashamed. What chutzpah!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 amFacts have a notorious liberal bias
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 amWe won’t hear this on the ‘liberal’ MSM.
Anyone else notice yesterday, when ‘lil Bush dragged his pampered ass over to sit down with Harry & Nancy, the first thing out of his mouth was ‘we need to get something done!’.
In other words, these two here at the table haven’t done anything.
Of course, obstructionism & obfuscation wasn’t mentioned…
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 amconservatives = putzes
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 amHmmmm. GOP has 3X the earmarks of Democrats, and the Democrats should be ashamed. What chutzpah!
Comment by Uncle Ho — January 23, 2008 @ 10:51 am
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I think it says we’re down by 25% – not by 75%.
Still better than the repukes, but nothing for our Dem leadership to brag about.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:55 amA 25% reduction is not sufficient progress. However, it is hard to tell even if the 25% reduction in the number of earmarks is any reduction in the total amount of money spent on earmarks. We need both figures to really judge the effectiveness of the Democratic led Congress.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 amHere on TP is likely the only place this will be reported.
The Democrats in Congress have yet to stand up and defend themselves regarding Republican obstructionism and the number of filibusters.
Remember that the Republicans threated “the nuclear option” if the Democrats dared filibuster judicial appointments? They raised Holy Hell until it was repeated on the Evening News for months.
But have you heard Democrats complain about Republican hypocrisy on either of these issues on the evening news or Sunday talk shows? They should be bringing these facts up until they are blue in the face, but instead, they say next to nothing and get blamed for being “a do nothing Congress”.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:02 amhttp://www.earmarkwatch.org this is a site that contains ALL of the earmarks and who the representative is that’s requesting them. Very helpful in following the “money trail.”
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:02 amhttp://WWW.EARMARKWATCH.ORG
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 amSee for yourself who’s making the earmarks: http://WWW.EARMARKWATCH.ORG
Oh yeah, PLEASE pass this site along to everyone.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 amRepublicans love earmarks. They just don’t love DEMOCRATIC earmarks, which explains why they act like they finally saw the light now that Democrats are in control and are in charge of earmarks. I guarantee if for some reason they regained the House this year, this republican clamor for earmark reform would disappear down the memory hole the same way their newfound reverence for “fiscal responsibility” would.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:06 amnot to mention the President himself has millions of earmarks of his own in the omnibus bill.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 amhttp://WWW.EARMARKWATCH.ORG is your way to keep an eye on ALL of them.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 amThis is just one of many “inconvenient truths” the Republiscums are going to have to deal with in the coming election.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 amI think it says we’re down by 25% – not by 75%.
Still better than the repukes, but nothing for our Dem leadership to brag about.
Comment by Vet
That’s the percentage the number of earmarks are down, not the ratio of Democratic earmarks vs Republiscum earmarks.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 amWe also won’t see Speaker Pelosi out on all of the networks banging this drum daily. What is wrong with her?
She’s invisible. How often did we see Newt Gingrich’s fat head on TV screaming about this or that new outrage?
The Democrats need to catapult the propapganda.
-GSD
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 amWe need both figures to really judge the effectiveness of the Democratic led Congress.
Comment by JMOHR
I agree. What we need is to pass a law that says any bill introduced in Congress must be a single subject. That would be more work for Congress but it would do away with the pork problem and the ability to slip something into a bill at the last minute.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:14 amThe Democrats need to catapult the propapganda.
-GSD
Comment by GSD
The Democrats don’t need to catapult the propaganda, they need to catapult the truth!
For the life of me I can’t understand why they are so silent on what is going on in this Congress. It can only be explained by blackmail. I can’t think of any other reason why Pelosi and Reid wouldn’t be standing there every day telling the country what the Republiscums are doing to obstruct Congress and to thwart the will of the American people.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:18 amHow about 100%, that would be better.
But anything is better than having the repukian criminal scum in charge.
Buck Fush
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:52 amSend them ALL home in November and this will send a message to the remaining Representatives and Senators that we are watching and holding them accountable. Whoever has the word “Incumbent” by their name on the ballots, gets a free ride back to where they came from. Let’s put an end to “career politicians” who are more concerned about their career and less concerned about the people. Our slogan should be, “THROW THE RASCALS OUT!”
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
In essence, we are less irresponsible than you, yet still basically irresponsible.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pmA previous comment from Pelosi’s office regarding earmarks stated that the Democrats are not as corrupt as the Republicans!
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pmThat’s a relief. The Democrats lowered the earmarks from the Republican level of 12,000 down to 9,000, after promising to eliminate them all together.
Overall Congress has a 27% approval rating – lower than Bush.
Vote ‘em out and lock ‘em up.