SHOCKER: Republicans = Hypocrites!

[Joanne98]

If you have turned on the TV in the last year, and especially in the last month, you probably heard some Republicans railing against Democrats stuffing the economic recovery package with "earmarks" and "pork" (this isn't true, since you have to take into account that the Republican definition of pork encompasses all spending on any projects--aside from military spending of course, which is never pork--which was the whole point of the bill).

But of course no Republican talking point would be complete without an unhealthy excess of hypocrisy gravy poured all over it. Such is the case with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who happens to have a taste for pork himself:
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has more than $75 million worth of earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, offering a tempting target to Democrats looking to score political points. <...>

The projects put McConnell (Ky.) in something of an awkward position, as he is now the de facto leader of the Republican Party, which has made earmarks a symbol of wasteful spending in Washington.

The earmarks McConnell asked for in the omnibus include $950,000 for the Western Kentucky University bikeway project, $427,000 for the Gunpowder Creek trail in Boone County and $1.6 million for the Forage Animal Production Research Laboratory in Lexington.

In total, McConnell has received 53 of the earmarks he requested, totaling $75.5 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks federal spending.
Hmm...so let me get this straight...Republicans basically say nothing but "pork pork pork" for weeks, and their leader (or at least their technical leader in Congress, not Limbaugh in this case) is raking in the earmarks, and not as part of a bill where spending money on local projects would have been appropriate (the economic recovery bill).

But Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill is mad (again), and she isn't going to take it anymore:
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), one of President Obama’s closest allies in the Senate, plans to take McConnell to task this week over his funding requests.

“I’m going to go to the floor, where I’m going to highlight all the Republican earmarks,” McCaskill warned Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) last week, interrupting his hallway interview with a reporter.

“I’m kind of up to here with this,” said McCaskill, showing with her hand that Republican rhetoric had piled well past her chin.
Every day that passes I think I love McCaskill a little more. I think she is almost as sick of Republicans and their bullshit as I am. Almost.

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2009/03/shocker-republicans-hypocrites.html

[tanyev]

1. Wait--now McConnell is the "de facto" leader of the Republican party?

How many de facto leaders can you possible have?

[ixion]

2. the more the merrier, IMO, at least in this case

the more idiots like Limbaugh, Palin, Jindal, etc speak, the more they push the GOP to the fringe.

I'm okay with that.