Add this to the list of DO NOT when campaigning for president: Talk about congressional earmarks.
McCain, Palin and Obama are flagrantly breaking this rule right now, getting into an argument over who's better at not being an evil Washington bureaucrat whose job it is to get largess back to their constituents.
Stop it. This happens every time there's an election, and plenty of politicians get on their far-too-high horses when they talk about how terrible, horrible and just plain wrong earmarks are.
Ya know what? They're really not so bad. What's bad is when your representatives get high and mighty and refuse to get them. That means you, the viewing public, aren't getting any of Washington's goodies while others do. I want the sports arenas, money for infrastructure and pretty much all the filthy lucre I can get from D.C. Don't you?
Because, seriously people, earmarks aren't going away. I don't care how much Congress talks trash about them or how often some random president decries their existence. When you look at America's budget as a whole, earmarks are small. When you look at how powerful they are and the influence that can be peddled with them, you're looking at a great tool to win friends.
And that's not going anywhere, no matter who wins in November.
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