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A Moral Superiority Fail: McCain Wages a Lonely Battle Against the Mythical Omnibus Earmark

Submitted by meg on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 2:48pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

OK, so it's usually not news when Sen. John McCain goes off about pork. McCain's invective can be relied upon to smear the line between wasteful spending and earmarks, but generally accomplishes little else.

McCain laid down the law on the omnibus bill. Or, at least he tried. His angry rant about earmarks was accompanied by actual legislation this time! McCain's amendment to the omnibus bill would have stripped thousands of earmarks from the budget and brought spending for several agencies back down to last year's levels.

"It's beyond anything I have ever witnessed and is extremely alarming," McCain said of the omnibus earmarks.

Makes you want to gasp, doesn't it? Or is that gagging I'm thinking of? Either way, the amendment failed to shame the simple majority needed to pass in the Senate, and failed.

It should come as no surprise that, of the eight Republicans who voted against the amendment, seven are on the appropriations committee. Also on that list was the senator who scored highest in terms of the amount of earmark money brought home: Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS). According to Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), Cochran squeezed the most out of the omnibus bill, bringing more than $470 million in earmarks back to Mississippi, some of that with the help of other lawmakers.

So those who voted against McCain had a horse in the earmark race; that makes sense. However, it seems even McCain's faithful followers weren't as disgusted with the pork problem as he was.

Cochran's colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), was second on the TCS list in terms of solo earmarks combined with earmarks secured in concert with other lawmakers, but he voted for McCain's anti-earmark amendment. Even McCain's only co-sponsor on the amendment, Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY), had his name attached to more than $10 million in earmarks in the omnibus bill.

As Wonkette points out, the earmarks make up less than 2 percent of the total omnibus. That brings me to the only conclusion one could come to after hearing this story (other than it's good to be Mississippi): Maybe McCain should find something else to be outraged about. I have a few suggestions if he can't think of anything offhand...

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS 

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Good to be in ms?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 4:28am.
If I had any faith that the earmark money would actually end up on the streets in ole miss, I would still have a hard time believing that being in the most poorly educated, and one of the highest ranking in poverty levels, state in the union was a blessing. Just because we liberals have (rightful) spite for the high content of racism in the deep south, doesn't mean we can justify considering them lesser americans. You want to know the best defense against the "southern strategy"? Build schools in the forgotten south. It amazes me that former democratic presidents haven't taken this issue more seriously. The more educated a state is- the more liberal the people are. BUILD SCHOOLS!!! stop condemning southerners and start educating them! They wouldn't elect rethuglicans if they knew better- so let's let them know better!!! We can't blame the south if we ever want to be united. People who wave the rebel flag are stuck in the past, but so are the liberals who condemn the south for their republican voting paterns. Making fun of people doesn't help them, EDUCATION DOES! This is one of the greatest flaws in liberal thinking, and it is certainly NOT progressive.
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LMAO...

Submitted by VettaKing on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 6:52am.
At McStain (R-Obama's Bitch) banging his little T-Rex arms on the desk and his suit bouncing around because it's too big for his little body. War hero my ass, that guy's a joke.
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Total hypocrite

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 10:14pm.
Someone needs to point out to the not-even-close-to-a-hero that there would be no Arizona without massive federal spending. Scottsdale would be a vague area in a desert without decades of "pork."
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