- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
Jinx, Jeb.
What's wrong with earmarks? I agree that the stimulus package should be a nation-wide package that benefits as equally as possible, but to have made "earmarks" a dirty word was the result of McCain and his phony campaign (never mind how ridiculously ironic his running mate, the earmark queen). Plus, if the idiots in Congress dump a bunch of line items that help their specific constituencies, they risk never getting the thing passed.
Earmarks are why we elect officials for the projects, improvements, contracts, etc. they can bring to us. Why else have them? The idea that they are in Washington to play footsie with lobbiests or vote for mostly irrelevant legislation that may not even affect the Average Joe is silly.
The whole "earmark" outrage was faux - created by the media who followed a pseudo-issue originated by John McCain. Judging by Obama's reaction to the argument in the debate (he rolled his eyes, shook his head and laughed), it's clear he doesn't think earmarks are the debbil. On the contrary, he knows what they do.
