Posted on 09/09/2008 11:22:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up." -- Barack Obama, Sept. 6, 2008
In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.
My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama.
Let's compare.
Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state's history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were "not a state responsibility."
Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana.
Mrs. Palin cut Alaska's federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska's decades-long earmark addiction.
Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Where the xyz do they think he comes from if not from the tax payer
The problem is, the bridge story has legs and it still hasn’t really been addressed adequately by either the McCain camp or Palin. I don’t think she can wait until the ABC interview tomorrow night to talk about it.
Wyatt Andrews, news commentator for CBS news radio, said this morning in his news broadcast that Palin DID in fact, keep the entire 236 million dollars, essentially calling her a liar to her face...it was my understanding that those earmarked funds were CANCELED, and she only kept the original transportation dollars allocated her state, which every state gets. We need a sourced fact-check on this. A similar article in the WSJ yesterday said “she kept the money” and implied she lied about supporting the bridge.
The MSM and the lefty blogosphere are obsessed now with the idea she must have lied about the bridge, and they’ve lined up in lockstep to try to re-create the “I was for the 87 billion dollars before I was against it” Kerry gaffe that dogged him all through the 2004 election.
The McCain/Palin camp needs to forcefully, aggressively respond to this with an explanation, or I fear it will dog Sarah throughout this election.
My point exactly. This epitomizes the stupidity on the left. They actually believe the government somehow has 2 sources from which to spend, our tax dollars and “their own” money.
Of course they DO control the printing presses....
Wow! $90! I didn't realize Biden was so incredibly effective at bringing home the bacon to his state.
bump
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