Patterico's Pontifications

I’m sorry, but didn’t Chris Matthews say his job was to make the administration look good? This guy portrays him as the second coming and now I’m supposed to believe he’s disappointed in his Messiah?

I call shenanigans. It feels like a ruse to make him look more objective.

Everyone on the left knew they were getting a leftist spender. They can’t jump on board with spineless moderates.

Hawkins (3d318d) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:18 am

Geez, Pat, they explained that it’s last year’s business. They can’t go line-by-line, veto, and send it back to Congress; that would be wasteful. And to now go back and read all those words and evaluate everything can’t be done during these busy times.

If only it were possible to have seen this coming.

–JRM

JRM (355c21) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:31 am

Patterico tells us to read a column in which the author (Dowd) lies about Obama having promised “no earmarks,” when in fact what he said was that he would keep earmarks at the 1994 level (7.8 billion dollars).

You love to fact-check, Patterico. Why not this time?

Andrew (a5f667) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:34 am

Apparently they’re shocked…

Yeah, but not enough that they regret one bit all they did to help him win… nor enough to make them start pushing the theme that Obama can’t be counted to honor his campaign pledges… can’t do anything that would cripple Obama, especially at a time when the country so much needs his leadership.

And since you can count on one finger the people who voted for Obama primarily (or even secondarily) because of his pledge to cut out earmarks, Obama’s reversal won’t hurt him a bit.

steve sturm (369bc6) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:36 am

Chrissy’s leg apparently stopped tingling.

Dmac (49b16c) — 3/5/2009 @ 8:11 am

JRM — way back on Septembeer 23, 2008! Very impressive. That date was my 19th wedding anniversary, but who cares about that.

I am not surprised that Obama is going back on his word. It’s all he’s ever done. Remember campaign reform and public money? The list is freakin endless on how many times this guy has outright lied to the American public. I’ll let the American people review any Bill for 5 days before I sign it into law??? Ring any bells???

J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3) — 3/5/2009 @ 9:16 am

Well, now, this is rather odd. Senator McCain got all touchy-feely with President Obama, promised to work with him where he could, yet when Senator McCain offered an amendment to get rid of the earmarks, President Obama, having a golden opportunity to keep one of his campaign promises, declined to ask the Democratic senators to support Mr McCain’s amendment.

Why didn’t President Obama do this? His 2008 opponent handed him a golden opportunity on a silver platter — I really do like mixed metaphors! 🙂 — to do something people would supportand gain some bipartisan street cred, but no, he just sat back and let his hair turn a little greyer.

The inquisitive Dana (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 9:47 am

And, while most areas of the Government get an 8% increase in spending with this bill, the Legislative Branch gets an 11% increase.

More Hope & Change!

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 9:50 am

But, of course, our friends on the left defend President Obama and the Democrats for keeping in the earmarks, and spending some bandwidth to tell us why spending a million bucks on cricket control is a good thing.

Maureen Dowd? Well, she’s just a traitorous redheaded bitch:

Because Maureen Dowd and John McCain are silly, stupid, mean-spirited people who think that working hard on something worthy is stupid and a waste of time, they assume everyone else thinks that way, too.

You really can’t make up this stuff!

The Dana who is so appreciated by Amanda Marcotte (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:12 am

Dana, one point of fact: it’s not cricket control, it’s locust control. What they’re talking about is the Mormon Cricket. It’s not a cricket at all, but rather a large black grasshopper that covers Utah and Nevada, and is quite devastating to crops.

Steverino (69d941) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:26 am

Dummerer than a sack of Andrews.

JD (27e245) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:34 am

McCain wrote a lovely scathing letter after getting burned by you-know-Hussein on a bill. (“I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me…were sincere. Please be assured I won’t make that same mistake again.”) I think by now we’re beginning to see a certain pattern with Junior.

Yet the Rinos never learn. Libs don’t reward anyone for reaching out to the middle. If anything, their verbal abuse just ratchets up.

Vermont Neighbor (229b93) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:42 am

And remember. Under Junior’s watch, the country must self-destruct. Soros didn’t pluck this hayseed out of nowhere just to pose for magazine covers.

Vermont Neighbor (229b93) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:43 am

As Jim Geraghty always says: Everything Obama says comes with an expiration date.

kimsch (2ce939) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:48 am

Patterico tells us to read a column in which the author (Dowd) lies about Obama having promised “no earmarks,” when in fact what he said was that he would keep earmarks at the 1994 level (7.8 billion dollars).

the post notes that Dowd is frustrated, not that she’s got he facts straight. No one expects that from her. But while we’re fact checking, Obama broke that promise you reference.

How dare you bring it up without noting that he violated it, Andrew?!? You love to fact check, why not this time?

Pablo (99243e) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:19 am

Expecting andrew and MoDo to get their facts right is the equivalent of expecting the Cubs to win the World Series.

JD (27e245) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:26 am

Geraghty’s quote is quite similar to JD’s Axiom – Baracky’s words cease having any meaning the moment they pass over his lips.

JD (27e245) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:29 am

How could the Cubs win the World Series, they don’t even play baseball … snicker.

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:41 am

Weren’t they sued several years back for impersonating a professional baseball team?

John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:43 am

That’s good, John. That’s really good!

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 11:49 am

Mr Hitchcock asked:

Weren’t they sued several years back for impersonating a professional baseball team?

And I’d bet nk was their lawyer! 🙂

The very snarky Dana (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 12:07 pm

Not that my team is any better. 🙁

The Cincinnati Reds' fan Dana (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 12:08 pm

In the meantime, our friends on the Delaware Liberal have John McCain demonstrating the position we all assumed on January 20th.

The Cincinnati Reds' fan Dana (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 12:16 pm

Not everyone can live a pleasant life as a Cardinals fan 😉

JD (27e245) — 3/5/2009 @ 12:17 pm

JD…You will be loving the gloving of Khalil. But grinding your teeth with every strikeout with men on. Been there. Having been birthed in Poplar Bluff, I still have a few pints of Cardinal colored blood.

allan (cf10d7) — 3/5/2009 @ 12:42 pm

The Cardinals get their best shortstops from the Padres.

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:01 pm

How about them Red Socks?

GM Roper (85dcd7) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:22 pm

Oh, it was great being a Reds’ fan in the 1970s. I used to listen to Al Michaels and Joe Nuxhall doing the play-by-play on radio, and how could anyone not love a team with a guy named Cesar Geronimo?

Alas! Those days are long gone, and the Reds seem to have Schott their wad for a good, long time. 🙁

The Cincinnati Reds' fan Dana (3e4784) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:27 pm

A VERY bad pun!

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:28 pm

Adjective Dana – I loved Davey Concepcion`, especially when he would bunce the ball off the AstroTurf when throwing to first.

Allan – Khalil should be a good fit. I loved Eckstein. With Carpenter and Wainwright healthy, this should be a good year.

JD (27e245) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:48 pm

Since I have nowhere to put it…here’s a quote from Biden at the AFL-CIO meeting:
“We’re not asking for anything we don’t deserve. We just want to level the playing field again.”

Since I happen to be re-reading Atlas Shrugged (soon to be considered a subversive text) it leaped out at me.

Hell, Biden is lifting Wesley Mouch directly from the the book.

KB (5a6552) — 3/5/2009 @ 1:56 pm

Rounding third and heading for home rounded third and went home. 🙁

Big Red Machine!!

John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 3/5/2009 @ 2:04 pm

Allan – Khalil should be a good fit. I loved Eckstein. With Carpenter and Wainwright healthy, this should be a good year.

Yeah, riiiiight. Just like last year – and
Eck sucks Donkeys, always will.

Dmac (49b16c) — 3/5/2009 @ 2:09 pm

This pretty much says it all regarding “Scrappy McHustlestein:” (note: scroll down to entry dated September 6):

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/#archives

Ecky sucks Whales.

Dmac (49b16c) — 3/5/2009 @ 2:13 pm

Here’s the complete takedown, replete with pesky things like facts:

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/search/label/david%20eckstein

Dmac (49b16c) — 3/5/2009 @ 2:14 pm

None of the linked articles had the obama “pledge” on earmarks. Are you talking about the ‘line by line’ bit?

imdw (05d41e) — 3/5/2009 @ 3:19 pm

“But, of course, our friends on the left defend President Obama and the Democrats for keeping in the earmarks, and spending some bandwidth to tell us why spending a million bucks on cricket control is a good thing.”

It’s shocking right? Like people are mad about this before they even find out if it is a good thing or not!

imdw (05d41e) — 3/5/2009 @ 3:22 pm

Pablo, the politifact link you gave us did not declare any promise kept or promised.

Andrew (96ab30) — 3/5/2009 @ 3:49 pm

I mean kept or broken.

Andrew (96ab30) — 3/5/2009 @ 3:49 pm

Now they are jus being pig-headedly stupid. Do you not listen to Teh One?

JD (f6e132) — 3/5/2009 @ 4:13 pm

#191
Apparently the one that is dummerer than a sack of Hacks likes the DOW @ 6600 and falling.

Comment by JD — 3/5/2009 @ 3:48 pm

Hey JD, How long did you think the roaring 20’s party …. uh sorry, I meant the warring 00’s party was gonna last?

I mean you have one president (Bush) and his possible same party successor (McCain) telling us that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

Then you have President Obama, who has finally been upfront with Americans. (laugh it up fuzzballs, but he has)(if you don’t see that at least economy wise, your dolts).

Are you really that politically coerced JD, that you didn’t think the bubble would ever burst?

I’m glad it decided to burst now instead of under Bush’s watch.

Intelligence is needed.

Hey Trolls……. Here come the Bush defenders 🙂 and the anti Obamists.

They may call us Trolls, but what they don’t realize is that they are the trolls outside of the realm of Patterico 🙂

Oiram (983921) — 3/5/2009 @ 4:37 pm

“Apparently the one that is dummerer than a sack of Hacks likes the DOW @ 6600 and falling.”

Unfortunately a lot of people believed the prices we used to have, based on investments leveraged off of bubbled housing, were gonna last. Its a real shame. for them.

imdw (de7003) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:09 pm

This Just In. (We need to see those AZ earmarks for comparison!) John McCain …

My Friend,

While campaigning for change, Barack Obama said, “We need earmark reform, and when I’m President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” But now the President is about to sign a huge 2,697 page spending bill with over 9,000 unnecessary and wasteful earmarks. That’s not the “change” we are looking for. I have called on the President to take a principled stand and veto the bill if it is sent to him, but unfortunately, he appears ready to sign it into law, which is nothing more than politics as usual.

It’s no secret that I’ve spent my political career fighting against out-of-control, wasteful spending in Congress. And in nearly 30 years, I have never witnessed the type of alarming and irresponsible spending as I have seen in Washington over the past few weeks.

I am appalled to see this legislation being rushed through the Congress while containing so many egregious earmarks. It is unconscionable that while we are asking Americans to do more with less in these trying economic times we are about to spend $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa, $2 million for the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii, $475,000 for a parking garage in Provo City, Utah, $300,000 to build a Montana World Trade Center, and $150,000 for a rodeo museum in South Dakota.

Vermont Neighbor (229b93) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:14 pm

So, Mario, when are the so-called “intelligent” ones going to do something about the economy? And by that, I mean something good for the economy? How far are the “intelligent” ones going to make the stock market crash before they quit going after Rush and Kramer?

JD (f6e132) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:25 pm

I see Mario wants to make up definitions of words again. Shocka.

JD (f6e132) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:28 pm

Oiram – Andrew is arguing that Obama either never made the claim that he was going to clean up earmarks, or has not pissed on that pledge. Are you taking the same position?

JD (f6e132) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:34 pm

Hey, look over there, BUNNIES!!!!!

daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:46 pm

Oh, Oh, Mr. Kahtah….can I pet one?

AD - RtR/OS (dc4e89) — 3/5/2009 @ 5:47 pm

“It is unconscionable that while we are asking Americans to do more with less in these trying economic times we are about to spend $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa, $2 million for the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii, $475,000 for a parking garage in Provo City, Utah, $300,000 to build a Montana World Trade Center, and $150,000 for a rodeo museum in South Dakota.”

Its almost like he doesn’t understand the paradox of thrift.

imdw (c990d8) — 3/5/2009 @ 6:01 pm

Hey, look! Something shiny!

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 6:38 pm

On 5 NOV 08, after the market had 1 day to absorb the ascension of Teh One, the DJIA closed at 9139, down 486 points. On 5 MAR 09, under the “intelligent” stewardship, and under the reign of Barcky, the DJIA closed at 6594, down 281 points today, and 2545 points, approx 28% down from when he was anointed. I sure hope that they start using some of that intelligence, Mario, or rather, I hope they start using it for good.

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 6:43 pm

The earmarks are disturbing, but politics as usual. It’s the charitable deduction rollback that really indicates that he is out to change the country, not fix it. By taking away deductions for charitable contributions from rich people, he is guaranteeing that charities will be dependent on HIM for sustenance.

Why else would he choose this particular itemized deduction?

Patricia (419c68) — 3/5/2009 @ 6:47 pm

patricia – because Teh One won, and he is going to impose his dirty little socialist ways on us.

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 6:58 pm

By taking away deductions for charitable contributions from rich people, he is guaranteeing that charities will be dependent on HIM for sustenance.

Very, very disturbing. He wants every possible need to lead straight to government. Again, liberals… always the power grab. As for compassion and help? Not so much.

Vermont Neighbor (229b93) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:06 pm

That’s right, JD and Vermont. I think sadly we are right.

Patricia (419c68) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:23 pm

#54 JD:

because Teh One won, and he is going to impose his dirty little socialist ways on us.

That, and it would just never occur to him actually give a donation unless one of his handlers told him to.

EW1 (e27928) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:32 pm

They cannot even give a proper present to a visiting head of state and his family.

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:40 pm

They cannot even give a proper present to a visiting head of state and his family.

Err, just exactly what kind of class of people you thought we had sent to the White House from Chicago’s South Side anyway, JD?

nk (502275) — 3/5/2009 @ 7:44 pm

Gas prices rising as a result of Barcky pushing cap & trade.

It drives me crazy that the media does stories every time that gas prices rise, but never seem to be interested when the gas prices are falling. The stories were non-stop when prices were going over $4, but when it fell to $1.50, crickets chirping. Gas back up around $2, and the media goes nuts again.

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 8:08 pm

I’m really, really, really surprised that Obama can’t be trusted. That his words can be exceptionally hollow and false. After all, I was so sure he could be taken at face value when he claimed that in all of his years sitting in Jeremiah Wright’s sermons, he had never heard the rhetoric of a “goddamn America” screwball.

It’s just stunning — totally shocking!! — that the words coming out of the mouth of the guy now occupying the Oval Office may be chock full of unadulterated BS.

Mark (411533) — 3/5/2009 @ 8:22 pm

A month ago we spent $1 TRILLION without knowing what was in the bill. As a bonus, we then sent Nancy Pelosi and crew to Italy for a vacation and a meeting with the Pope.

I’m actually encouraged that someone took the time to read this bill and count the earmarks. Anyone check this bill to see if there was an earmark to cover the cost of her photo album?

Progress comes in small steps, and the value of my IRA continues to fall in giant leaps. This is change I didn’t need.

K2 (a46b64) — 3/5/2009 @ 8:51 pm

“They cannot even give a proper present to a visiting head of state and his family.

Err, just exactly what kind of class of people you thought we had sent to the White House from Chicago’s South Side anyway, JD?”

nk – Maybe Barky should have given them a few rocks as a reminder of home. He knows him some shit about that stuff.

daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 3/5/2009 @ 9:05 pm

The race of one hundred miles begins with a single step.

These “pork” items are the first step. If Obama is willing to ignore a campaign promise to ignore a “mere $5 billion” then why sweat anything in the budget as it is only made up of a $5 billion item here and another $5 billion there and another … and another …

Is it really true, as some say, that this $5 billion doesn’t matter .. or is it that procrastination is the new “modus operandi” ?
You may think you’re running a “rope-a-dope” when in fact you’re really stuck on your ass.

Neo (cba5df) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:06 pm

Remember the first time you saw the formulation of $6.72B, and how jaw-dropping the idea of that much money was? Now, we are going to see things like $4.2T, and Baracky has just been softening us up so the big numbers are no longer shocking. Remember when the first auto-bailout was floated, and the $30,000,000,000 price tag was breath-taking? Well, that figure would not even rate a second glance given the breadth and scope of carnage that these dirty little socialists plan to leave in their wake.

JD (683ca8) — 3/5/2009 @ 10:21 pm

We can get mad and point fingers all day long – but the Federal Government will continue to spend with little regard for public feelings.

The only way you can get your own tax break is to increase your W-4 deductions and start weaning this out-of-control Government from suckling off those who work.

Dust off your pitchforks and make dry your torches.

Corwin (ea9428) — 3/6/2009 @ 6:12 am

The gift was intentional. Michelle actually gave a nice present to Laura Bush, a leather bound diary.

But why this snub? Can it really be the Mau-Mau Rebellion as baldilocks said?

Patricia (419c68) — 3/7/2009 @ 4:08 pm

3/5/2009

Obama: To Hell with My Pledge on Earmarks

67 Responses to “Obama: To Hell with My Pledge on Earmarks”

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