Stupid: Republicans Take Credit For Pork In Stimulus Bill They Voted Against

• February 17, 2009

When just about every single Republican in Congress rallied together to oppose the “stimulus” crap sandwich it was a hopeful moment for the future of the GOP. But observing the spectacle of Republicans going back to their home states and bragging about the pork stuck into this “stimulus” they voted against reminds me again of why they’re in the minority party.

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
“I applaud President Obama’s recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America’s future,” the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.
Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.
Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: “This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority’s favorite government programs,” as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.
But Mica wasn’t alone in touting what he saw as the bill’s virtues. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also had nice things to say in a press release.
Young boasted that he “won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
One provision would have made it harder for minority businesses to win contracts, and Young explained that he “worked with members on the other side of the aisle to make the case for these programs, and was able to get the provision pulled from the bill.”
Yet later in the day Young — who recently told McClatchy that he would’ve included earmarks, or local projects, in the bill if it had been permitted — issued another statement blasting the overall measure.
“This bill was not a stimulus bill. It was a vehicle for pet projects, and that’s wrong,” he protested.

Republicans aren’t going to find their way out of the wilderness until Americans trust them again. And Americans aren’t going to trust them again until they know that when Republicans say something they mean it. Republicans can’t oppose something like the “stimulus” from a righteous limited government standpoint only to turn around and praise the pork tucked into it for the sake of political expediency.

Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array raj58045

This is all great fuel for the term limits argument. All of these idiots have to just go away.
docdave

Yeah, the dems not caring about morals and ethics would be quite happy to invite them into their flock of hypocrits.
robert108

Brent: Apples and oranges. You’re just wrong. I’m no fan of McCain, but he’s not a leftie totalitarian. An appeaser, maybe, but still not a leftie totalitarian.
http://www.onlinebizsource.com/ steveb2u

I am not sure who the bailout is supposed to help other than a few select companies. It seems like it will just dig a deeper hole for Americans.
Brent

Brent: That’s a patently absurd conclusion. Senator McCain has been the MOST outspoken critic in congress of the whole stimulus bill debacle.

So he complains about $19 billion of year in “pork projects”, but “suspends” his campaign to pass a $700 billion TARP bill? McCain is a maverick, like he says. That’s fine, but that is different from being a conservative.

The bottom line is that this stimulus package is the wrong approach. You can’t tell me that republicans wouldn’t have voted for SOME stimulus package, one that would have still included a couple hundred billion in new spending and would have certainly contained so-called pork projects. Remember, this type of behavior is how congressional republicans lost their majority in the first place.

Anyway, I don’t disagree with you that the stimulus package would have been less bad under McCain, but he still would have signed off on something bad – just less so.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

McCain might have given them only 70 percent of the pork the Leftards have seized for themselves. But the big difference would be that there would be no clear delineation between the parties.

It would have been bipartisan in name, but largely Socialist in nature.

We could not look to 2010 with any sense of relief, for both the parties would be acting as one.

But now the lines are more clear. The Dems have made this monstrosity. It is completely theirs.

It is their pig and they will have no place to hide.
realist

I thought that adding pork and earmarks to a sure pass bill while voting against it was only reserved for “true conservatives” like Ron Paul. He’s been using that schtick for years.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

First, how else can we weed out the RINOs? Better to know now than to re-elect them out of ignorance.

robert108 on February 16, 2009 at 07:03 pm

The more I investigate McCain, the more firmly I am convinced that I cannot vote for him, as a matter of principle. He’s a shit sandwich I just refuse to eat.

By robert108 on June 22, 2008 at 03:50 pm

I voted for him…

robert108 on November 7, 2008 at 08:41 am
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

I’m not sure what form the McCain stimulus bill would have had, but I find it easy to believe that it would have been as bad as this one.

Consider that Nancy pants and dingy Harry would have been writing it. How much, really, would it have differed?
Brent

I thought that adding pork and earmarks to a sure pass bill while voting against it was only reserved for “true conservatives” like Ron Paul. He’s been using that schtick for years.

I am not opposed to earmarks. Beating up on them is bogus “republican” rhetoric and certainly not conservative.

First of all, earmarks are a drop in the bucket compared to the vastly larger spending sprees congress approves.

Secondly, while conservatives should oppose spending projects that are wasteful (most spending), earmarks qua earmarks are not the problem. At least, letting the bureaucrats make the spending decisions is not a better alternative… unless you believe in “scientific socialism”.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

RINO’s are a disease to the Party and, potentially a fatal one to America.

I have a special kind of contempt for RINO’s because Leftists are at least Leftists. By marching under the Big D flag, they put the world on notice that they are Leftists and, given the chance, will do Leftard things.

But RINO’s, on the other hand, are the Trojan Horses of the Left.

They are LIARS.

They serve as the Dim’s Fifth Column, and offer to the world the false appearance of being Republican, giving a lie to Republican control of Congress, or sponsorship of a given piece of legislation, when the truth of the matter is that they serve the same ends as their more honest Leftists comrades.

They are traitors in every sense of the word, be it through weakness or conniving.

If they really are Leftists, then they should not be allowed to commit the electoral fraud they commit by selling themselves to an unsuspecting public as something they are not — Republicans.

It is this crime without punishment, by lying during elections with no consequences when the truth is revealed that will be the death of America.

Like the Court system, our Republican system can only function properly if it is based on the truth.
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

RINO’s are a disease to the Party and, potentially a fatal one to America.

I am all for working to get them thrown out of office.
robert108

I don’t think it does the conservative movement any good to defend Republicans when they’re acting as bad as Democrats.

First, how else can we weed out the RINOs? Better to know now than to re-elect them out of ignorance. Second, the Dems are now showing their true nature as totalitarians. Republican appeasers may be many things, but they’re still not totalitarians.
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

RINO’s are a disease to the Party and, potentially a fatal one to America.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

R108,

First, how else can we weed out the RINOs?

Good question.

There has got to be a vetting process. That is probably best served by examining — and requiring revelation of that track record for examination — early in the primaries process.

This is tough to do because those who have money are often the Leftists, not Conservatives. I can tell you there is a stark difference in how the Leftist and Conservative establishments treat their young and invest money in organizational infrastructure, where a vetting process would be put into place.

The Left have an established Party Apparatus. They take that money they extract from taxpayers, or Union members or get from Soros, Hollywood personalities, Microsoft and the People’s Liberation Army and fund political movements like ACORN and MOVE-ON.ORG, pay scholarships to Left-leaning students and fund fellowships and other job openings.

Leftard Party discipline is strict, compared to the GOP at least. Which is probably a good reason you don’t find modern-day JFK’s or Zell Millers.

On the other hand, Conservatives are really a hodge-podge of ad hoc committees, foundations and 501c‘s, usually begging for even a miniscule income.

In such an environment, the Conservative cause can easily be overwhelmed by well-heeled crypto-Leftists saying they are Conservative, but really in the process of taking up both sides of the political ticket.

But a vetting process that examines the candidate before they get on the ticket is vital. How that can be done is best by examining what they have done in college through to time of announcing their candidacy.

It’s basic stuff. How to make it part of the apparatus, given that Conservatives really don’t have an apparatus is what makes it tough.
Hannitized

I understand that point, but I don’t believe the entire stimulus bill is meant to take effect immediately. Some of it is designed to be long-term stimulus to keep the economy stimulated for years and years.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

But I would wager in that R’s mind that rail wasn’t what he called pork. So the question then becomes, what was the pork?

I’ll tell you one thing: With the environmental impact report due to take five years or more, it sure as hell ain’t “stimulus”!
Brent

@robert108:

Look no further than the spending increases during the last eight years. And, during the last year, we saw President Bush (a republican) pass lots of similar disasters as the current stimulus package — TARP being one the more well known, but there were plenty of others. These things had plenty of republican congressional support, especially from the leadership.

I think you have to own up to the fact that republicans vote much better when they are in the minority.
pparets

Brent: That’s a patently absurd conclusion. Senator McCain has been the MOST outspoken critic in congress of the whole stimulus bill debacle.

In case you haden’t noticed, we are barreling to the left far faster than even the most sceptical critic of President Obama could have imagined.

75% or more of the initiatives and presidential orders tumbling out of the White House on a daily basis would be unthinkable in a McCain administration.

He way not be the apple-of-the-eye to conservatives, but McCain is far, far to the right of Barack Obama.
Hannitized

“I applaud President Obama’s recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America’s future,” the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.

It must chap your hide to have a Republican praise a Democratic president.

But I would wager in that R’s mind that rail wasn’t what he called pork. So the question then becomes, what was the pork? Because I doubt you are all on the same page.

You hoped everyone would band together and pretend to make everything sound bad in order to cause problems.

I would encourage Republicans to either, lead, follow or get out of the way.

You are just in the way Rob, always have been, always will be.
docdave

Consider that Nancy pants and dingy Harry would have been writing it. How much, really, would it have differed?

No difference if he dems could override McCains veto.
jimmypop

RINO’s are a disease to the Party and, potentially a fatal one to America.

if you are from ND you know thats all we have here…..
docdave

Just another sign that, if McCain had won, the bill would have been all too similar and many republicans would have voted for it.

And what is your basis for your assertion? Unfortunately for us, we will never know the answer to that but the fact that very few Republicans supported the bill is telling.
robert108

Pure fantasy, Brent; Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to Obama’s pork spending bill, but the arrogant, totalitarian Dems don’t care what the public wants; Republicans tend to listen to the voters, so I think your speculation is wrong.
Brent

Just another sign that, if McCain had won, the bill would have been all too similar and many republicans would have voted for it.
http://www.rabidamerican.net/ Rabid American

Another shill, RINO, turn-coat, INFILTRATOR…..

Get a clue!
IF YOU WANT TO BE A SOCIALIST, LEAVE THE GOP!

GOP – DROP THESE WEAKLING, CLOSET MARXISTS!
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

I don’t think it does the conservative movement any good to defend Republicans when they’re acting as bad as Democrats.

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Stupid: Republicans Take Credit For Pork In Stimulus Bill They Voted Against

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