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Pork-Mob Mentality
Posted by Raven on October 2nd, 2006
Ed Morrisey offers an excellent look at the power of pork and how John Murtha (and others) have mastered the mannerisms of appropriations for their own benefit:
The power Murtha exercises affects more than just his own extensive use of earmarking; he uses the earmarks of others to twist arms on all kinds of legislation. Those who follow Murtha’s advice on votes will see their earmarks sail through Appropriations, while those who oppose Murtha in either party will see their districts starve for federal funding.
[...]
Do you wonder why debate on bills seem to occur in inverse proportion to their cost? At least with defense bills, we can thank John Murtha. In the late 1980s, he created a new process for defense spending. Instead of having the bill go through weeks of debate, Murtha and the ranking Republican would simply lard the bill with so much pork spending that neither side could resist voting for the bill. No one wanted to debate the bill, because no one wanted to reveal the pork spending within it. The Republicans have continued this tradition, which is why the defense appropriation last week for $437 billion only endured 20 minutes of debate.
Murtha got his power through his own dishonest means and uses it to fund projects and legislation that are outragious and deceptive. It’s OUR money he is wasting here. Bloggers are exposing this stuff and applying pressure to get it changed. We all need to keep this pressure near the boiling point. Folks from PA, who are tired of Murtha’s mob-like mentality, have choices.
Interestly, there was a “rally” this past weekend that many of Murtha’s “buddies” stood in defense of the old coot. It’s funny how all those who attended most likely have been on the recieving end of Mutha’s bloodline (pork projects) YET the voices of average citizens were not heard:
Beam said that while the pro-Murtha rally featured Gov. Ed Rendell and other officials, the “Boot Murtha” guests were “ordinary citizens with extraordinary experiences.”
Many times during the rally, chants of “Boot Murtha!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Jack Murtha’s got to go!” echoed through the arena.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:51 am
Dont forget Robert ‘KKK’ Byrd. As I understand it everything in his district is named after him because of Pork projects.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Ahh yes. The birdman of PORK.