McCain's Earmark Lie

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2008
McCain's Earmark Lie
175
Mon, 09-15-2008 - 9:19pm
The full story:


Daily Kos

McCain's Earmark Lie: Palin actually grubs $1 mil/day as Gov. by Kagro X

Mon Sep 15, 2008 at 03:00:11 PM PDT

The Wall Street Journal:




Last week, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress, presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin has asked U.S. taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific Alaska projects over the past two years.



It's been 652 days since Earmark Queen Sarah Palin took office as Governor of Alaska.



In that time, she's hustled for $453,000,000 in federal lipstick pork.



That's $694,785.28 a day. Six hundred ninetey-four thousand, seven hundred and eight five dollars and twenty-eight cents. Every day. Even Sundays!



Palin was grubbing six hundred ninetey-four thousand, seven hundred and eight five dollars and twenty-eight cents out of the federal trough on the very day when John McCain looked America in the eye and said she was taking zero.



And she took it again today, too.



And she took it on every one of the 312 nights she spent at home and billed the Alaskan taxpayers for it.



So why say it's a million dollars a day? Well, first, let me show you what Slick Sarah Palin is telling people:




On the campaign trail, Gov. Palin has repeatedly attacked Sen. Obama on earmarks. "Our opponent has requested nearly one billion dollars in earmarks in three years. That's about a million for every working day," she said at a rally in Albuquerque, N.M.



Ohhhh, this feels like it's going to get embarrassing in a second....



And, behold! Look what "The Math" says!



It is difficult to compare Sen. Obama's earmark record with Gov. Palin's -- their states differ in size, for instance, and the two candidates play different roles in the process. But using the same calculation that the McCain campaign uses, the total amount of earmarked dollars divided by the number of working days while each held office (assuming a five-day workweek, every week, for both), Gov. Palin sought $980,000 per workday, compared with roughly $893,000 for Sen. Obama.



Not only is Palin taking much more, but oh my word if the million dollar figure doesn't actually fit her sooooo much better than the person she's trying to use it against! What a surprise!



So that's almost a million dollars a day, whether she showed up at the office or not. A million bucks, plus $60 in her pocket for defrosting one of her own mooseburgers for lunch.



And really, Palin must be asking herself, why not chisel the Alaska state government a little bit? After all:




The state's earmark requests stand out in part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got a check for $3,200.



Gosh, but they're such rugged individualists up there! They're gonna launch themselves into orbit with those bootstraps, don'tcha know?



A million dollars a day. From you and me. Plus $3,200 in the bank for each one of 'em. And $60 in Sarah's pocket for every lunch at home. (Like every working mom, of course!)



It's the new fiscal responsibility, in John McCain's seven house-owning, $5 million middle class living world!





But for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, appearance to essence.....truth is considered profane, and only illusion sacred. Sacredness

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 12:20pm
I wish I could find a democrat that could reduce government welfare going to their constituents by thousands of $s a year per person...


Yeah, wouldn't that be GREAT? Now, to be fair, most other states CAN'T reduce "government welfare going to their constituents by thousands of $ a year per person," mostly because - as one of the biggest porkers at the trough, Alaska's per-person total of "government welfare" is one of the only ones which even STRETCHES to multiple thousands of dollars per person. Alaska requests far more - in total - than Illinois or Massachusetts, both of which have more than twelve times the population. So it'd be a bit more difficult - and reckless - for other governors/congressional delegations to try multi-thousand-dollar-per-capita reductions in federal funds.

However, I share your sentiment in general: wouldn't it be great if congressional Democrats reduced earmarks? What's that? They already did - once they actually were in power again, instead of the big-spending, big-porking Republicans? And they - for the first time in history - made each congressperson or senator sign off on each earmark so the public knows who requested what?

Oh. Looks like they're on it. There - don't you feel better?

....but that just doesn't happen and the Dreary Kos doesn't seem to recognize this.


Naw, LOL - Kos and the gang just "recognize" stuff that's right there in the newspaper for anyone to read - but which doctrinaire, ideological conservatarians simply DON'T read....because it contradicts what they already KNOW to be true about those doggone "tax and spend" liberals.


But for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, appearance to essence.....truth is considered profane, and only illusion sacred. Sacredness
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 1:09pm
Insult the Daily Rag...er...Kos? LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-28-2003
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 1:10pm
What
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-12-2004
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 1:24pm

"With that in mind I can say from what I’ve read Palin took a state and in her short time there has dropped the earmarks going to her state by 75%"


I will explain to you why this happened.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 1:24pm

"than Illinois or Massachusetts, both of which have more than twelve times the population. So it'd be a bit more difficult - and reckless - for other governors/congressional delegations to try multi-thousand-dollar-per-capita reductions in federal funds"


As already mentioned Alaska faces serious concerns those states do not.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 10:18pm

Thank you Jane.


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 10:37pm

I just wondered about this remark:

"Agree with her on policy issues or not, I'm just really shocked that there are so many women here who support the attacks against Palin. Talk about a slippery slope."

What do you mean by this statement? My interpretation of your comment is that you think women should support her simply because she is a woman. Or women should be nicer to her because she is a woman.

And what is the 'slippery slope' you are referring to?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 10:44pm

"Back to the calander. Alaska has long had the highest amount of earmark spending per capita, both because Young and Stevens bring home the pork, and because it has a relatively small population. In 2006, they lost their seats on the top of the Approps committees because the Dems took over the chairs. They didn't lose all their ability over earmarks, as Members generally support the earmarks of others so they can win support for their own, but they did not control the process. Hence, the volume of earmarks to Alaska dropped. A lot. And would have dropped, regardless of who was governor at the time. So, if you consider a drop in earmarks to be a benefit (at least to the image of reformer), then Palin benefited from the Democratic take-over of the Congress."

Two years ago Stevens lost his seat on the Approps committee - when the Democrats gained control - and then the spending decreased as earmarks were cut. It was in the original post.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 10:53pm

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2008
Tue, 09-16-2008 - 11:29pm

Ooops and thanks for the reminder.

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