Rand Paul: Cut Wasteful Earmarks.....eh, forget about it

[kaiser soze]

It is not the Pendulum of power but the Pig Trough that swings

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/flipflop-rand-paul-quietly-reverses-earmarks-i-advocate-kentuckys-interests/

In an interview published over the weekend with the Wall Street Journal, Paul signaled a major backtrack on a core campaign promise: cutting federal earmarks. The promise is a hallmark of Republican candidates of all stripes, who advocate that a smaller government is in the national interest and that money doled out for special progress is tantamount to backroom dealing.

"In a bigger shift from his campaign pledge to end earmarks, he tells me that they are a bad "symbol" of easy spending but that he will fight for Kentucky's share of earmarks and federal pork, as long as it's doled out transparently at the committee level and not parachuted in in the dead of night," Paul told the Journal for an interview published Saturday.

http://www.randpaul2010.com/2010/03/earmark-ban-coming/

Rand Paul has made a ban on wasteful earmark spending in Washington D.C. one of the key points of his campaign.

The first sentence right there...barely sworn in and changing their tune

But it's ok if they do it!

*whistles away*

[yeahwho]

Do you think Paul is covering up earmarks with that moppy looking toupee he's sporting?

After jobs the republicans #2 issue was reckless spending, earmarks specifically. "These earmarks are bankrupting America," and we'll stop them all.

What the fuck does that mean to anybody? Are earmarks bankrupting America? No, they aren't. This year Congress spent $16.5 billion on 9,129 projects around the country, according to Citizens Against Government Waste (http://www.cagw.org/). Which is also less than one-half of 1 percent of all federal spending.

In fact, if you could retroactively undo every single pork-barrel project Congress has passed during the past 20 years — all 110,000 of them — you would have enough money to buy down the $13.7 trillion national debt by ... 2 percent.

People who voted or any republican because they felt earmarks are a problem in America today also must believe tax cuts for the wealthy is going to enhance our economy.

[kaiser soze]

Weren't the McCain crowd riding on the "Earmark Express" ? All that complaining of pork this and pork that?

Just pointing out the insta-flipflops that abound

[travesty]

Earmarks are such a weak campaign ideal but it still riles people up, especially when they are going to some other state than thier own. Yeahwho I'm glad you cited those numbers for everyone. Basically eliminating earmarks is a cheap way for Repubs to show the populus that they are tough on cutting waste:rolleyes:.... whatever.

[kaiser soze]

yeah I believe we had this discussion during the Presidential elections - but people still sat on the wastefulness of earmarks

utter earmark to a conservative and you get votes, it's magic