McConnell Promises More Pork Despite McCain Threats

Unless you have been residing under a rock this past year, you know that one of John McCain's signature platform pieces is his pledge to eliminate earmark spending -- a wafer-thin sliver of the Federal budget that won't go very far in diminishing overall discretionary spending but, in the spirit of sausage making, nevertheless contributes some of the mortar that binds larger legislative compromises. McCain rails against this pork, famously calling out funding for bear DNA research. That is, until he realized he voted for that. Lately, McCain's been angry at a Chicago planetarium and the projector that it uses to actually project the stars on the ceiling of the facility -- the device that turns a building into a planetarium -- referring to it as an "overhead projector," because why not mislead voters on every picayune detail?

Well, Senator Mitch McConnell, currently the minority leader of the current Senate, doesn't seem to be all that concerned with what John McCain has to say about pork-barrel spending:

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Kentucky voters would make a terrible trade if they replaced him with a Democrat lacking the clout to deliver huge amounts of federal money he took credit for bringing back to the Bluegrass state. [...] McConnell, facing a hard-charging challenge from Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford, did not mention the nation's sagging economy or his recent vote for a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry during a speech to the chamber of commerce in this Appalachian city.

That's basically McConnell promising to continue the flow of porcine magma to Kentucky in perpetuity. Didn't he hear that John McCain, if elected, is going to Make McConnell Famous? Actually, as Matt Yglesias points out, McConnell's larger worry may be that the voters of Kentucky might end up making McConnell famously unemployed.

Comments

[GoodScout]

08:19 AM on 10/22/2008

I dreamed last night that both Saxby Chambliss and McConnell were defeated Nov. 4. I woke up so happy.

[Ping]

12:49 AM on 10/22/2008

"You can fool some people some times,
but you can't fool all of the people, all of the time.

Now you see the light, stand up for your rights. JAH"

[Oonagh]

09:36 PM on 10/21/2008

All of these old boys should get dumped. They have done the country a huge injustice. The last eight years are a disgrace, they had the majority, they had a surplus and the chance to do good and they were miserable .... We ended up with a war and a gigantic deficit .. Hopefully new energy will help get the country back on its feet.

[crutnacker]

09:02 PM on 10/21/2008

Some notes about Mitch:

1) He is tied to Bob Murray, the coal mine owner whose lax safety led to 9 deaths. Murray excitedly told people who regulated his mines to be careful because "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss".

2) Rumor has it he might be a friend of Larry Craig (not that there's anything wrong with that)

3) Mitch is dissing his opponent's record with veterans. The DAV isn't real fond of Mitch's record.

4) Mitch does a great job of running smear campaigns about his oppenents every election cycle.

5) Mitch did some grandstand­ing early in his career about eliminatin­g pornograph­y, yet uses "free speech" as his reasoning for no limits on campaign spending.

6) Mitch claims DC as his primary residence for tax breaks, but has run ads about his opponent "not being a resident of Kentucky, but of Chicago"

[newpotusplease]

06:22 PM on 10/21/2008

DITCH MITCH

help Bruce Lunsford
http://www­.actblue.c­om/entity/­fundraiser­s/20008

Ditch Mitch
and Elaine Chao too!!!!!!

[grf67]

03:22 PM on 10/21/2008

Without a republican president, McConnell has seen his last earmark. People of Kentucky, get smart and dump this turkey.

[JayeSF]

02:50 PM on 10/21/2008

largesse .... the final, desperate act of a politician who knows his time is up.....

[IsyFleur]

02:16 PM on 10/21/2008

McConnell must have missed the part about McCain's mighty presidenti­al pen which he will use to cross out all this pork!

[NounverbPOW]

01:56 PM on 10/21/2008

As a former resident of KY, I was duped into placing my one Republican vote for this man. There was a "whisper campaign" in the city I lived in, that said we had to vote for McConnell, or our largest employer (Mar.tin Mar.rietta­) would be shut down. Guess what folks- it was shut down anyhow, yet we still had to live with this nutcase as our Senator.
Enough!!!!­!

[mav4499237]

01:50 PM on 10/21/2008

I hope Lunsford can pull this one out. I'm not from Kentucky but I donated to his campaign anyway. Does McConnell remind anyone else besides me of Larry Craig.....­I find it hilarious how these phonies aren't quite so arrogant once they find themselves in a real race. Go Bruce!!

[jean1]

01:47 PM on 10/21/2008

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this story! I'm in KY and I voted early (can IF you're going to be out of town on nov 4). ENOUGH! It's always hard when someone tries to stay in job longer than he/she should OR tries every way to get one he/she isn't suited for... In my humble opinion it's MUCH harder on the rest of us.

[jaglon]

01:47 PM on 10/21/2008

This man is such an odd looking duck, I wonder how he keeps getting re-elected­. But his comment just shows you that if McCain somehow manages to get elected, what he will be up against - his own party! But if Obama wins McConnell will have a tough time getting his pork in because he will be in the minority.

The people of Kentucky need to retire this fossil.