How quickly principles vanish when control of Congress changes hands

[Tigermike 3,053]

The new Party of Pork

Friday, February 1, 2008

In 2006, when Democrats were trying to wrest control of the Congress from big-spending Republicans, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told the Wall Street Journal, "Personally, myself, I'd get rid of all of them" - referring to spending earmarks inserted into spending bills by members of Congress.

Now that Pelosi is speaker, however, she has come to appreciate the value of some earmarks. Monday she told The Chronicle's Zachary Coile that while Democrats have cut back on earmarks from the GOP leadership days, they are "wonderful investments in infrastructure and the education of our children."

Pelosi also bristled at President Bush for asserting during his State of the Union speech, "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks." Noting that Bush had no problem signing bills with pork-barrel spending sent to his desk by Republicans, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland dismissed Bush's born-again opposition to earmarks as rank "hypocrisy."

Bush is guilty as charged. He came too late to the anti-pork party. For all his tough talk about vetoing earmark-laden bills, Bush punted by refusing to curtail thousands of earmarks inserted into a massive spending bill he signed last month.

But the lesson of this dance of trading places is how quickly principles vanish when control of Congress changes hands. The Party of Pork is the party that happens to be in power at any given moment.

This time, the Democrats are on the wrong side of an issue they once so passionately championed. (But that is an issue they didn't champion from conviction but strictly as an election year strategy. US taxpayers are not stupid and will remember.)

This article appeared on page B - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

and no matter how you spin it that is not a conservative newspaper.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1/EDKAUOA4C.DTL