Comments on: Chutzpah, Thy Name is GOP

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:03:43 +0000

Do you think Dems should unilaterally disarm?

In the battle of wits, they already have.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:05:28 +0000

Do you think Dems should unilaterally disarm?

Personally, I don't. I would prefer that they work the system as it is, while trying to improve the rules.

By: Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » A Taste Of Things To Come

Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » A Taste Of Things To Come — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:25:12 +0000

[...] Case in point is Jim Moran himself. That speech is unlikely to hurt him at all in his re-election bid. He’s an obnoxious blowhard, but the people of the 8th Congressional District knew that long before he became a Congressman; all that matters, it seems, is whether he brings home the back. As James Joyner says, though, you do have to admire his audacity. [link] [...]

By: Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:50:21 +0000

James,

>>Locals WANT their Congressmen to bring home money. Pork is spending IN OTHER DISTRICTS.

I am afraid you're right, and that's precisely why PorkBusters or any other similar movement won't succeed unless people change their idea of what they want, or think they are entitled to, from government. The war on pork barrel spending has been going on for more than 20 years now ---- does anyone remember the Grace Commission and Citizens Against Government Waste ? They are, I think, still around and still issue reports, but the problem continues.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:40:13 +0000

yaj: I haven't analyzed the numbers, other than to note that pork spending countinues to rise.

Moran was talking to his constituents. Locals WANT their Congressmen to bring home money. Pork is spending IN OTHER DISTRICTS.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:37:44 +0000

Looking at the pork buster reports on votes, you find bipartisan support for pork. But, from the votes I have analyzed, republicans tend to vote in greater percentages than their majority in congress against pork and democrats vote in higher percentages than their minority for pork. In an ideal world, each party would take care of its porkers in the primaries, so you wouldn't have to make the choice between two goods (e.g. no pork, win the war on terror).

I have no doubt that you could find a republican acting as clueless as Moran. But democrats seemed determined to remind voters that voting for them is not the solution to stopping pork.