The GOP war on earmarks reaches a new low today as they attack the DNC for "defending earmarks".

Earmarks, for those of you who don't know or are confused, are vehicles by which Congress is able to fund many of the essential needs of the country. Common examples of earmarks include funding for police and firefighters, funding to repair roads, bridges and levees and funding for public parks. 99% of earmarks are for vital domestic needs such as these. When the GOP talks about earmarks they like to talk about the 1% of earmarks that fund silly projects like the infamous "bridge to nowhere" (ironically supported by GOP Senator Ted Stevens).

Yesterday, the House passed the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act which allocates $1.7 billion to mass transit authorities to reduce transit fares and to expand transit services.  Yet, if you look at the bill’s cost estimate, the CBO estimates that no funds will be appropriated in FY2008, bringing the total money authorized to a less ambitious $850 billion in FY2009-2013.

Jesselyn Radack  I think first spotted the linkage.

FISA coming up now was certainly not Obama's choosing. I don't think Pelosi let it come up specifically to screw with Obama, rather, a conflict of legitimate divergent interests. Most House members top priority is bringing federal money home. In some cases, it's the only interest.

The Iraq supplemental had hit an impasse. The Speaker imagined that as in Spring 2007, she could leverage Iraq funding for a chunk of dough for various domestic programs, this time the GI Bill, unemployment extension and flood relief. The Budget negotiation broke down as Bushco drove a wedge insisting the telco bailout be included in the package. Nancy had to go with it, you don't get between a Member and  the takehome in an election year. Obama's stuck with the same dilemma.

   I was on Joystiq today and noticed this quirky little post. Apparently the McCain campaign has released a facebook app -- a flash game. The game is called Pork Invaders, a parody on the Atari classic Space Invaders...

If you’re like me, sometimes your mind wanders to the year 2000 and what might have been if only the votes had been counted.

It is at those times that it becomes hard to untangle the rush of emotions as I think about the legacy of George Bush, his appointment by the Supreme Court and what might have been if we had Al Gore in the White House.

At these moments, I think about Florida and I get mad.

Now, anger has fueled me over the last decade as I’ve researched and exposed the culture of corruption. Truth be told, it still does.

It was Jack Abramoff’s role in the Florida recount that had my hair on fire back in late 2000 and 2001. He sent his team. He raised money, lots of money—on and off the books. He funded the infrastructure of the coup d’état we suffer under to this day.

Without Abramoff and his fellow lobbyist—the shadow army of the GOP—George W. Bush would be a village resident of diminished mental capacity somewhere in Texas.

Instead, every day, he gets to insult and diminish the Nation I love.

It is time for payback.

And a great revenge will be to defeat John Mica.

To the Jump...

While celebrating Fathers Day this Sunday, please take time to remember all of the fathers who won’t be able to spend time with their families. They are the fathers who are deployed in Iraq. Some haven’t seen their children for months or more. Some have children whom they’ve only seen via photos.

An revealing story in today's San Diego Union Tribune:

Rep. Duncan Hunter's deep political and defense contracting ties formed over more than a quarter-century in Congress are paying off for his son at a critical moment.

More after the fold...

Wow! If you don't love the guys at FactCheck.org as much as I do, you really need to make sure you are still alive. FactCheck's bottom line up front:

McCain's argument is that:

  1. The McCain economic plan will cut $100 billion of the discretionary budget.
  2. Past and present earmarks account for $100 billion of the discretionary budget.
  3. Therefore, the McCain economic plan will cut past and present earmarks.

The argument is seductive. But consider another argument that has exactly the same logical structure:

  1. Clouds are white and fluffy.
  2. Sheep are white and fluffy.
  3. Therefore, clouds are sheep.

And:

In McCain's world, everyone gets a pony

Special interest money is one of the most significant challenges facing American democracy today. Money is funneled into our system by lobbyists and Political Action Committees (PACs) who finance and help to elect those candidates friendly to their agendas. In return they expect access, influence, and sometimes they expect kickbacks in the form of earmarks for pet projects. While politicians, lobbyists, and PAC members often deny that there is any quid pro quo in their relationships, it’s evident that the specter of special interest influence in and of itself has damaged the credibility of our process and we would all benefit from a system that engendered a sense of trust and credibility.

It's not in Brooklyn:

Republican John McCain said Wednesday that the bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people last year would not have happened if Congress had not wasted so much money on pork-barrel spending.

Federal investigators cite undersize steel plates as the "critical factor" in the collapse of the bridge. Heavy loads of construction materials on the bridge also contributed to the disaster that injured 145 people on Aug. 1, according to preliminary findings by the National Transportation Safety Board.

"The bridge in Minneapolis didn't collapse because there wasn't enough money," McCain told reporters while campaigning in Pennsylvania. "The bridge in Minneapolis collapsed because so much money was spent on wasteful, unnecessary pork-barrel projects."

I never took physics, but I'm pretty sure it collapsed because it wasn't strong enough to hold the weight it was bearing.  It probably would have held up if some money had been spent to strengthen it, but the Republicans neglected infrastructure investment the entire 12 years they controlled Capitol Hill, because they were more concerned with tax cuts to the rich and war in Iraq.  

But the man does offer a compelling argument against electing a Republican Congress.

Also, does McCain think he's already been elected President?  Doesn't he know that he shouldn't be blaming Congress, especially his own Republican leadership, while he's still a member of Congress?  

And I love this:

"I think there is a long, long list of earmarks which went to unnecessary and unwanted projects that I think should have gone to the bridge in Minnesota," McCain said.

"I don't know whether it would have gone or not, but if you're spending $223 million on a bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it ..."

McCain said such projects "have everything to do with the power and influence of an individual congressman or senator and has nothing to do with the actual transportation needs of the United States."

On the same day, McCain was confronted with an earmark he did consider worthy. During a forum at Lehigh Valley Hospital, he met a woman with ovarian cancer who was treated in a clinical trial funded with $80 million in congressional earmarks.
The hospital was showing off an electronic medical records system that is virtually paper-free.

McCain insisted he was not trying to have it both ways and said that deserving projects can get money through regular channels.

"It's the process I object to," he said. "I'm sure that I can give you a list of projects the Mafia funds, and they would probably be good projects. But I can't give you a justification for the Mafia. I can't give you a justification for the corruption that's been bred which has sent members of Congress to the federal prison," he said.

Did John McCain just compare Ted Stevens to a tool of the Mafia?  

Clinton has made no less than $2.3 billion in earmarks for the coming year.  That is almost three times the amount of the next guy down, and over nine times that of an average year for Obama.  But who cares, when angry black people and the 'Survivor-esque' drama of a man betrayed by his pastor, betrying him in kind, is so much more interesting?

With Clinton refusing to do more than "broadly define" what she spent this ridiculous amount of money on, no disclosure from her about what she spent in prior years, and no press attention, we are left only to speculate.

Therefore, I give you the Top Ten Most Suspicious Clinton Earmarks:

Is Clinton selling earmarks for donations to her campaign?  The Hill reports that the N.Y. Senator requested a record $2.3 Billion in earmarks in 2009, three times as much as ANY SENATOR in 2008.  Is this what ANOTHER Clinton Presidency would look like - pay for power?

Rollingstones has published an article suggesting a connection between certain endorsements of Hillary and earmarks she has co-sponsored.

http://www.rollingstone.com/...

The Queen of Pork
Nobody doles out taxpayer money like Hillary Clinton — or rakes in as much campaign cash from the companies she does favors for

Why does John McCain hate bears? I only ask this because he likes to take every opportunity to ridicule a project dedicated to counting the number of grizzly bears in Glacier National Park in Montana. This sounded like something that was worthwhile, after all how can you determine what should be done in regards to bear population when you have no idea how many bears are out there. John McCain seems to disagree, even more than a month after the WaPo ran a detailed article on it. How do I know he still thinks bears are a waste of money? He went after them again on the Hardball College Tour today. I think I should take the time to remind John just what he thinks is a waste of money.

The general election is rapidly approaching and the Republicans are sharpening their sticks and looking for wedge issues to prop up McCain and divide the Democrats.  I love a good debate with someone from the other side, but it can be tough to have a good arsenal of facts to counter their arguments.  In the run-up to the general election, every Democrat should have a few key facts on each of the likely topics that the Republicans will be pushing.  This article is meant to respond to the following claim:

McCain refuses to place earmarks for pork spending, while Obama and Clinton are the king and queen of pork.

The following conversation was recorded by a group of Mike Gravel supporters and leaked to the media (proof they do exist).

PHONE RINGS THREE TIMES AND IS ANSWERED; VOICE OF SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Hello, this is Obama speaking.

JOHN MCCAIN: Hey Obama, I've got some news for you my friend.

OBAMA: Hey John. What's that?

MCCAIN: I said I've got some news for you my friend.

OBAMA: Well I've got some news for John McCain...Wait, sorry. Flashback.

Don't get me wrong.  Nobody likes wasteful government spending.  Nobody likes bridges to nowhere or airports for a handful of corporate executives. But when the media decides to report on wasteful government spending, it tends to be in regards to the dreaded 'earmark.'

And as everyone knows, John McCain is the 'anti-earmark' champion.  And so a media that perpetuates a narrative that earmarks is the main thing to look at when it comes to wasteful government spending, it necessarily plays right into John McCain's hands.

In an interview today with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Clinton admitted

I am proud of my earmarks. Part of the reason that I won New York by 67 percent are my earmarks.

 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article

Yet she still hasn't released them, despite being asked repeatedly by Obama to do so.  

Obama asks for earmarks