Let's not lay it all on the Republicans, the Blue Dog Dems are doing the same thing. Time for Obama to call them our by name.

someone may want to ask DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse why, if this is such a "new hypocritical low" why DNC is not running paid ads in the states and districts of the offenders? As these were letters to the USDA, one can presume many of the culprits are in low-media-cost rural states?

Am I the only one to find it ironic that its the 'Washington Times' that's running this story?

Has Reverand Moon suddenly seen the light? Or is this just a happy accident?

Just to further illustrate how craven is the Republican argument about taxes and spending, the Tax Foundation, in Special Report No. 158 to be found on their website, details a study of how much each state pays in federal taxes vs. how much they receive in federal spending for the period 1981 to 2005. In 2005, thirty two states received more in spending than they paid in taxes. Many of these states received more in spending than they paid in taxes throughout the entire study period. Yet in 2008, 23 of these states voted Republican, while only Texas, among the states contributing more than they receive, voted Republican. And everyone knows that $11 trillion of our national debt were run up by Reagan and the two Bushes, who spent like bandits and cut taxes. So those who complain the loudest about over-weaning government have consistently taken federal largess and voted for the party that complains the loudest about taxes and spending. We could have a real donnybrook if the 18 states paying in the most decide they don't like the relationship.

[organ music under] ...and so, once again we join our family of disfunctional Democrats, wringing their hands in unison all over the lefty blogosphere, while they don't get out front, and don't buy any ad time, and the MSM bypasses the story... [organ music swells to threatening 9th chord...]

I hates me the bleeping wingnuts, I really do. I hates the hypocrisy, I hates the perfidy, I hates the lies, I hates the greed. But our left-wing echo chamber is getting as bad as the right-wing echo chamber, one site linking another blog to another site... The difference is the righties manage to get their story out!!

Look, folks, there's an election coming up this year. Its not about actions, its about perceptions.

I know it's petty and small, but then again, so am I :)

I think if any governor or Congressperson tries to direct stimulus funds for their states or districts, they have to publicly declare that the money is coming from the stimulus funds and that it's going to create jobs. They don't have to kiss Obama's ass or switch party loyalty or any of that truly despicable crap Republicans would force on us if they could. Just an acknowledgment of the truth - this comes from stimulus funds. It will create jobs. And if everyone HAD to do this, and certain governors and Congresspeople decided they'd rather not have the funds, then EVERYONE in their stats and districts would know they'd rather choke back the truth and let everyone else suffer. See where loyalties truly lie.

We need a new law:

The Felony Hypocrisy and Honest Legislating Act

The FHAHLA would make it a federal crime at the felony level to 1) vote against something and later appear at the ribbon-cutting ceremony 2) insert an earmark into a bill that you later vote against 3) criticize the ruling party for doing something that you proposed in a bill 3 or more years more recently.

Perhaps we should pass a law that if a Senator or congressman votes against a spending measure then their state or district can't benefit from that spending. We'll see how long the red-states last when the blue states stop subsidizing them.

Time to get those FOIA requests going for the other agencies, too.

Those lawmakers who insisted the stimulus wouldn't work, and that federal spending couldn't possibly be good for the economy, can send their apologies to: President Obama, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue....

And to the rest of us, too! The stimulus bill would have been better without their carping, and a lot more people would be at work.

Washington, paralyzed by back to back snow storms, is getting more work done than when they actually are in session!

Pork stimulus projects taste better than they smell.

My dream for fixing the deficit: politicians can say whatever they want, but any time they get caught lying, their campaign funds get fined one penny per lie, times the number of times it got repeated times the number of people who potentially heard it. (Just add up circulation figures for newspapers and audience assessment statistics for TV & radio stations.)

I didn't have the sound on , but from the TEEVEE bank at the front of the Gym it looked like Dianne Sawyer covered this last night on ABC ...I was amazed. Someone correct me if I'm wrong

Republican'ts will take the money and still claim that the stimulus didn't work. Because as all GOPers know, it's stimulus if the money went to your state. It's simply good politics (not stimulus) if I got money to come to my state.

hey, here's an idea. let's pro-rate any stimulus awards to states and organizations within those states based on the percentage of congress-critters who voted for vs against the stimulus. if all senators and reps in a particular state voted against it, that state gets nothing!

fair enough? if the stimulus is bad, you get no money.

With efgoldman on this one. The GOP fails to surprise with what is a core principle--do as I say not as I do--but the Democrats are enabling them. If the trend continues . . . Democrats do dirty work of the federal government in 09-10 in ways that at bottom Republicans have little to quarrel with. Would they have stiffed the banks? Quit Afghanistan? not closed Gitmo? Not investigated the Bush admin? Passed HCR? In 2010 Republicans reap rewards of Democrats governing in ways that got Republicans tossed out in 206-08. Rinse repeat.

At some point a Democratic leader/leaders will push a strategy that gives Republicans no quarter on these kinds of things, but we're not there yet.

Right now the stimulus debate is a sideshow because both sides like it. Had their side done it, I fear we would be hammering away in ways that fit our ideas: not enough jobs, too much pork for favored legislators, negotiated in secret, tax cuts and giveaways to the vested interests . . .

The President and Congress should cancel the Stimulus package for all Congressional districts which have Republican feces representing them.

Demand repayment of the monies immediately, with Federal marshalls dispatched to confiscate this money stolen from me by Republican filth.

Close all Post Offices in Republican districts, refuse to distribute Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security checks to thieving, al Qaeda Republican voters.

Rip the pacemakers that I paid for out of their chests.

Shoot the first Republican piece of scum who sets foot on MY highways.

If a Republican President or enemy scum Republican Congress taxes me one single cent (screw low taxes; it had better NO taxes), they'd better try it from a hardened bunker.

Steve,
Names, please, names. Certainly Kit Bond is not out there by his lonesome...Thanks...

Isn't "Hypocrite" latin for "Republican"?

Good republican, bad republican

But behind the scenes, the Missouri Republican quietly sought more than $50 million from a federal agency for two projects in his state.

Bully for him.
If you have to have a republican as your rep, sure is nice if he is big enough man to be a hypocrite about it. Here in Arizona our big dogs (McCain and Kyl) actually brag about not bringing home the pork. I mean really, old lazy gray dogs that don't hunt and actually brag about it?

How sick is that?
Az must be the most foxed-up state in the Union...

Echoing others above, it doesn't matter what the facts are if the only people aware of them are politically engaged voters who read blogs.

Until the Democrats get the message out and bang away with it until it sinks in, the latest GOP hypocrisy is meaningless.

Am I the only one to find it ironic that its the 'Washington Times' that's running this story?

Has Reverend Moon suddenly seen the light? Or is this just a happy accident?
Posted by: Joseph on February 9, 2010 at 1:31PM

You're not the only one; I had to look twice at the source to make sure it wasn't Washington *Post*. OTOH, Rev Moon had ceded the reins to his son and there have been some changes at the Wash Times. Nothing earthshaking, but...

Sort of like being those Evangelical Christian Preachers screaming bloody murder about homosexuals while at the same time bedding one, or certain Southern Governors, or ex-Democratic VP candidates saying one thing etc., etc.

Quite a bunch of leaders we've placed our collective asses under eh? Not to worry though. We have a President who is above it all. Honest, thoughtful, protective. He's only allowing war criminals who lie us into wars and torturers who write memos making it legal to vote in our next elections, go on TV to continue torturing us with horrific partisan horse puck to get away Scott free.

I don't see the difference. Both sets of jack asses are hypocritical and don't deserve our support. Either way we are screwed by leaders saying one thing and doing the other. Nauseating...

We live in an age in which it is anathema to take responsibility for what one has done, and in which there is no shame attached to being a complete hypocrite.
I hope the gates are proof against barbarians at least a while longer.

I think if any governor or Congressperson tries to direct stimulus funds for their states or districts, they have to publicly declare that the money is coming from the stimulus funds and that it's going to create jobs. -- slappy magoo, @13:40

Actually... Originally, that was the plan; the source of money would be openly announced at every building site which existed thanks to the stimulus. There was even a nice logo designed to make those sites easy to spot at a glance. But, of course, the Red Staters objected and, equally of course, the administration gave in. Don't know why, perhaps to let them save face in the hopes that they'd be more tractable in the future. But, such honourable approach does not work with the Party of No/Party of Janus...

But you see, it doesn't matter. They can do this with utter impunity because the corporate media will never, ever call them on it. It's that simple. Hypocrisy and lying work -- it all reward and no cost.

I mean this when I say it; I am willing to write the campaign ads exploiting this reality for the Dems, free of charge.

This is easy work, I've got a :15, :30, and 1 min version worked out in my mind. Nothing to it but to commit to air time. I can be reached by any Dem at the email address you have filed for Shantyhag.

Why doesn't the administration compile a list of names, dates and places where congressmen have at one time claimed the stimulus did not create jobs and at another time claimed to their constituents that it did create jobs?

This list could then be distributed to all news outlets.

to ExLibra:
I'm not sure about this. On a trip through the mountain states last summer, I saw highway construction projects marked in this manner in Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming. Maybe this happened in the states where guys whose first names are Billy-Joe-Gene-Bob live.

What I tell you three times is true.

The stimulus worked and prevented another Republican created Great Depression (plus a few jobs). Even Hank Paulson, Bush's Treasury Secretary, said so on the NBC Sunday talk show. The Republicans who tell you otherwise are liers. They take their tactics from Vladimer Lenin who said, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

Now not only are they liers, but they are hypocritic liers, damn liers, and statisical liers. If the Democrats can get this success across to the public so that polls show the public believes it, the Republicans will not have a prayer at the polls.

The stimulus worked and prevented another Republican created Great Depression (plus a few jobs). Even Hank Paulson, Bush's Treasury Secretary, said so on the NBC Sunday talk show. The Republicans who tell you otherwise are liers. They take their tactics from Vladimer Lenin who said, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

Now not only are they liers, but they are hypocritic liers, damn liers, and statisical liers. If the Democrats can get this success across to the public so that polls show the public believes it, the Republicans will not have a prayer at the polls.

The stimulus worked and prevented another Republican created Great Depression (plus a few jobs). Even Hank Paulson, Bush's Treasury Secretary, said so on the NBC Sunday talk show. The Republicans who tell you otherwise are liers. They take their tactics from Vladimer Lenin who said, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

Now not only are they liers, but they are hypocritic liers, damn liers, and statisical liers. If the Democrats can get this success across to the public so that polls show the public believes it, the Republicans will not have a prayer at the polls.

Huffington post has a big article on these two faced senators, and surprise surprise, 'You lie' Joe Wilson is one of them.

I say cut them off from receiving any stimulus money. When they complain about that, remind everyone that these reps were quite vocal that these measures would serve no purpose - presumably in reference to their own districts. Why is it wrong to take these jokers at their word, respect their expertise in the needs of their districts, and act accordingly?

From the blog of John Farrell at US Snooze ...

Name names. My man Robert Bennett

Then there is Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah. Not a bad guy. But he also assured us that the stimulus bill was awful, then wrote to Vilsack with a list of home state projects seeking stimulus cash. Like Wilson, Bennett was pretty sure that the stimulus would do what the Obama administration said it would. Which is no big surprise, considering that almost every economist with a brain on the planet endorses counter-cyclical stimulus plans to ease recessions and ward off depressions.

As the Times reported:

"On Feb. 13, 2009, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican, issued a statement criticizing the stimulus--but two days earlier, he privately forwarded to Mr. Vilsack a list of projects seeking stimulus money. "I believe the addition of federal funds to these projects would maximize the stimulative effect of these projects on the local economy," he wrote.

Jeepers, maybe it's too soon, but will "even the conservative Washington Times" become the new "even the liberal New Republic"?