Comments on AverageBro.com: Why The GOP Stays Losing.

Never been to Woodstock but back in the day I used...

2009-12-16T09:45:14.066-05:00

Never been to Woodstock but back in the day I used to drop into City Lights in San Francisco, and take the occasional stroll through Haight-Ashbury...

@ Spool: Hey, you be cuttin' mighty close to ...

2009-12-15T22:22:32.780-05:00

@ Spool:

Hey, you be cuttin' mighty close to my neck o' the woods with that there statement. XD

Have you ever been to Woodstock? It's the only place I've ever seen real, live hippies (albeit ones in their 60s and 70s).

If you can't cut funding for the Woodstock Mus...

2009-12-15T21:14:21.310-05:00

If you can't cut funding for the Woodstock Museum, you'll never fix SS or Medicare.

But to hell with all that. Let's add more programs instead! One thing IS for certain... it wasn't the earmark spending that clued me into the fact that Obama wants more spending.

If there's one person I never want to hear say...

2009-12-15T12:58:35.394-05:00

If there's one person I never want to hear say the word "earmarks" again, it's McCain, since that's pretty much the only word he said during Campaign '08. Everything was "earmarks" this, and "earmarks" that, as if earmarks all by themselves had caused the then-newly unfolding economic collapse. IMO, it was one of the main reasons he seemed hapless and out of touch enough to swing enough voters to Obama.

And now here he is talking about them again! Argh.

I agree---not all pork is bad, and I've never understood why some people are so fixated on IT as the source of so much waste. Percentage-wise, there are much bigger fish to fry.

The ear marks have to stay because that's how ...

2009-12-15T12:08:50.514-05:00

The ear marks have to stay because that's how most of the people get votes. While campaigning they have to say thing like "When I'm in office I will work hard to restore the schools by fighting for federal dollars to......blah, blah, blah"

So to answer the question, no one really cares because they know it's par for the course. Just can't get away from T Woods if you wanted to.

@ Spool Dems in the Senate did vote against it. N...

2009-12-15T12:05:45.961-05:00

@ Spool

Dems in the Senate did vote against it. Not sure of your point.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/14/Democrat-calls-for-veto-of-spending-bill/UPI-17951260843550/

One thing for certain: Obama could gain some popularity points if he pushed back and told both parties to remove the pork. Of course, this isn't going to happen. Gibbs has already said as much.

@MsNegroEsquire: "Has been working to"?...

2009-12-15T11:54:42.824-05:00

@MsNegroEsquire:

"Has been working to"? Please. He issued a blanket decision when he took office, then went about issuing a pile of waivers to the rule that basically rendered it pointless.

Oh, woe is him, it's so hard to stick to his guns. Nobody's buying it, despite the Post flying cover for him on yet another embarrassing campaign promise broken just weeks after he took office.

Paul is righ tthat this spending SHOULD happen on ...

2009-12-15T11:51:31.539-05:00

Paul is righ tthat this spending SHOULD happen on the state / local level. Part of the problem here is that the US Federal Government shouldn't give a shit about $50K for a nature trail in Montana. End of story.

Of course, this concept also presumes that the fed takes less money from the people, leaving some for the states to snag for projects like this. Every million bucks spent to refurbish John Murtha Regional Airport (average total flights per year: 30) could be spent funding Medicaid or paying down the debt.

Secondly, yes. This is an embarrassment to the GOP, and one reason it got massacred in 2006 and 2008. Boehner, Coburn, and other principled Republicans are slowly making headway but it's a long row to hoe.

Side note: it's worth noting that ZERO DEMOCRATS join the small group of earmark protesters in Congress.

Zero.

@AB "[J]ust like he hasn't been able to...

2009-12-15T10:22:09.889-05:00

@AB

"[J]ust like he hasn't been able to curb the influence of lobbyists."

Obama has been working to curb the influence of lobbyists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/26/AR2009112602362.html

This sort of spending ought to be done on the stat...

2009-12-15T09:39:50.745-05:00

This sort of spending ought to be done on the state and local level, not on the national level. Why should WVa get tons of Federal money because they continually elect Byrd? Why should NC have gotten money because of Helms? If the money were going to be spent for the greastest public good, then I'd be all for increased Federal spending. Need an example of how Congressional power trumps public good? My area is within spitting distance of NYC. We have train and bus stations that provide direct access to the City. After 9/11 saw less money than towns in South Dakota (Daschele) and Alaska (Stevens). How in the hairy Hell does that make any sense?

It is like you said. Every administration and ever...

2009-12-15T05:41:47.587-05:00

It is like you said. Every administration and every representative comes in thinking or at least pretending they can change the way politics is done and then, of course, they don't. Anybody who has paid attention to the campaign of their local representatives has heard how they are going to go to Washington D.C. and clean up the mess or something like that. And nobody objects to the extra spending if it is being done in their area. So it goes on and will keep going on.

The whole "pork" talking point is anothe...

2009-12-15T02:43:15.712-05:00

The whole "pork" talking point is another right-wing smoke screen encapsulated in a short, easy-to-pronounce word (See: "Flip-Flop," 2004 Election).

The idea is to throw out enough of these that you virtually ensure that one or more will stick to each ig'nit voter.