Teh One Who Knocks
03-10-2012, 07:44 PM
By Jon C. Hopwood | Yahoo! Contributor Network
http://i.imgur.com/7z357.jpg
COMMENTARY | Ron Paul runs political ads targeting Rick Santorum, accusing him of being a "fake" fiscal conservative. He criticizes Santorum's use of congressional earmarks, but Paul himself has put in for over half a billion dollars in earmarks for his district in the past two fiscal years.
First, the facts, via the American Independent:
For FY 2011, Rep. Paul submitted requests for 41 earmarks worth $157,093,544. The previous year, he submitted 54 earmarks totaling a whopping $398,460,640, including $2.5 million for a redevelopment project in Baytown, Texas. Among the essential public services that the earmark would finance were "trash cans…and decorative street lighting."
In the last Republican debate, John King asked Paul to explain his charge against Santorum. A smiling Paul said, "Because he's a fake."
He explained that Santorum portrays himself as fiscally conservative, but in the Senate, he voted to expand federal spending. Paul claimed that he himself had only voted for one appropriations bill in his congressional career, legislation that funded veterans programs. Later in the debate, he honed in on Santorum's record of voting for earmarks for his home state Pennsylvania.
The problem with Paul's attacks on Santorum's record of earmarks is that it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It also elucidates Paul's hypocrisy.
Santorum is a proponent of big government and a defender of earmarks, though he makes a distinction between "good" and "bad" earmarks. Reo, Paul, on the other hand, pretends that he is completely against earmarks while continuing to exploit the earmark process to bring home the bacon to his own district, a practice he allegedly deplores.
Paul lards up spending bills with pork via earmarks for his Texas district, knowing that the spending bill will pass, then votes against it. He then piously claims he is against pork barrel spending, a practice he has mastered. When called out on it, he claims he's lassoing tax dollars his Texans have sent to Washington, corralling them to be driven back to his district like so many cattle rustled by black-hatted government badmen.
Paul was one of only four Republicans to ask for earmarks in the 2011 budget, according to the American Independent. The House Republican Conference voted on extending its voluntary ban on earmarks in November 2010, but Paul ignores it.
Ron Paul has exposed himself as not only being a "fake" fiscal conservative himself but a hypocrite.
http://i.imgur.com/7z357.jpg
COMMENTARY | Ron Paul runs political ads targeting Rick Santorum, accusing him of being a "fake" fiscal conservative. He criticizes Santorum's use of congressional earmarks, but Paul himself has put in for over half a billion dollars in earmarks for his district in the past two fiscal years.
First, the facts, via the American Independent:
For FY 2011, Rep. Paul submitted requests for 41 earmarks worth $157,093,544. The previous year, he submitted 54 earmarks totaling a whopping $398,460,640, including $2.5 million for a redevelopment project in Baytown, Texas. Among the essential public services that the earmark would finance were "trash cans…and decorative street lighting."
In the last Republican debate, John King asked Paul to explain his charge against Santorum. A smiling Paul said, "Because he's a fake."
He explained that Santorum portrays himself as fiscally conservative, but in the Senate, he voted to expand federal spending. Paul claimed that he himself had only voted for one appropriations bill in his congressional career, legislation that funded veterans programs. Later in the debate, he honed in on Santorum's record of voting for earmarks for his home state Pennsylvania.
The problem with Paul's attacks on Santorum's record of earmarks is that it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It also elucidates Paul's hypocrisy.
Santorum is a proponent of big government and a defender of earmarks, though he makes a distinction between "good" and "bad" earmarks. Reo, Paul, on the other hand, pretends that he is completely against earmarks while continuing to exploit the earmark process to bring home the bacon to his own district, a practice he allegedly deplores.
Paul lards up spending bills with pork via earmarks for his Texas district, knowing that the spending bill will pass, then votes against it. He then piously claims he is against pork barrel spending, a practice he has mastered. When called out on it, he claims he's lassoing tax dollars his Texans have sent to Washington, corralling them to be driven back to his district like so many cattle rustled by black-hatted government badmen.
Paul was one of only four Republicans to ask for earmarks in the 2011 budget, according to the American Independent. The House Republican Conference voted on extending its voluntary ban on earmarks in November 2010, but Paul ignores it.
Ron Paul has exposed himself as not only being a "fake" fiscal conservative himself but a hypocrite.