NEWS: Democrats Doing Their Best To Not Be Better Than Republicans

POLITICS: Democrats Doing Their Best To Not Be Better Than Republicans

When the Democrats were attempting to take back Congress in 2006, they kept harping about the corrupt Republicans. Democrats claimed they would straighten out Congress and one of their ideas was earmark reform. Earmarks are Congressional provisions that direct funds to specific projects, usually in a lawmaker’s home state or district. During election season, Democrats said they would change things and they would make sure lawmakers wouldn’t benefit from earmarks they were requesting. But then they gained control of Congress and that went out the window.

Same old Congress, no matter who is in charge.

Charlie went a little overboard with his earmarks, by making sure his "Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service," the "Rangel Conference Center," "a well-furnished office for Charles Rangel" and the "Charles Rangel Library" were funded with $2 million in government money. Not all lawmakers engage in the earmark process and some even take issue with earmarks. One Congressman, Republican John Campbell, went after Democrat Charlie Rangel on the House floor yesterday.

Rangel showed the young punk why he has been in office for so long.

Nicely done, you corrupt motherfucker. A snappy come back takes care of the entire issue. I guess you can only be incredibly corrupt when you've been around a while. Oh and by the way, according to City College spokeswoman Mary Lou Edmondson, the idea of Rangel's library and the use of federal funding for it came from…Charlie Rangel. What a fucking asshole.

The earmarks make up more than $1 billion of a bill that was sent to Bush last week for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Bush says he will veto it. Good.

Ah, so we're totally fucked?

I'm not defending earmarks, but if it's "only" $1 billion, that's only half as a corrupt as the Republicans in 2005.

Democrats: Half as Bad.

Armageddon! FTR approves of something Bush will do!

Seriously, it's an institutional problem with Congress, not a partisan problem. It's too bad Bush had to wait 6+ years and get a Democratic Congress before he turned spending hawk - though his chronic mismanagement of the entire government is part of the problem too.

This is only one bill - or are you thinking of the specific bill for the same departments from then?

Demos, Repubs... 2 sides of the same coin it seems.

I am fond of saying that the only difference between government and organized crime, is that government is bigger, has more hired goons and guns... and is less ethical.

Q. What's the difference between a politician and a catfish?
A. One's a slimey, shit-eating bottom feeder... the other's just a fish.
(yeah... I know the joke's originally about lawyers, but hey)

The majority of these are Republican projects, and it was the Republicans who prevented the Democratic congress from getting porkbelly reform done. So it's not surprising, and it's not the Democrats' fault past complacency and the fact that they're basically sitting on their hands until 2008 when the new President will hopefully be on their party ticket.

I've heard Ron Paul doesn't like earmarks.

Seriously though, as Formus said, they're mostly Republican and its 1/10th of the amount that Bush wants the bill cut back by.
Also, from the article linked:

It isn't like this is really all that uncommon, the only thing that is really despicable is the well-furnished office for himself within the building. Outside of that, libraries, conference centers, and centers for public service aren't exactly bad things.

I am a little perplexed that anyone at all finds all of this earmarking and other bs surprising. I mean, the only real thing in ploitics that is truly bipartisan is the corruption.
While a person might be honest while running for an office, once they can be labeled with the word politician it is pretty much a sure-fire deal that any ethics or morals they may have had are now up for the bidding.

No, but it's shameful to name them after yourself when all you've done is assign the government's money to them.

We would like to think of a politician as a public service, that people run for office because they want to make positive change, but to many it's a career and they will do what it takes to keep their job.

I'd really love to see term limits in legislature, but the only real way that could happen is if they themselves did it. lol@thathappeningever

Yes. Term limits. I recall an election quite a few years ago, in California, where the voters voted IN term limits--and then proceeded to also vote [back] in about 95% of the incumbents. Irony or pure, blatant stupidity?

As I recall, there used to be. Could be wrong. Zarth would fix me.

I personally would not like to see legislative term limits, because that would mean that Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl would be forced to eventually give up their Senate seats to lesser men. And that is a concept that I just cannot go along with. Hell, even Presidential term limits have always been a bit of a shaky concept for me. We should be able to elect who we want. =/

That's actually not a bad campaign slogan. They could win if they went with it.

A check on fiscal irresponsibility from the man responsible for a war that has so far cost an estimated $1.5 trillion, that has (putting aside the morality of the situation for the sake of the argument) resulted in no tangible benefits for anybody other than corporate war-profiteers.

I mean, I think it's good that there's this check on corrupt pork-barrel politics. But holy shit...

Instant Run-Off voting. Make the third party a viable option and the two big guys have to clean house

Sigh.

I was going to begin this "Hey, fucktard," but if you don't have a basic grasp of terms like "corruption" I think "fucktard" might elude you.

For those who slept through grammar school, corruption is is the abroagation of duty or responsibility for personal gain. Earmarking money so that a predominantly minority University in Harlem can start a program in public service, is not corruption, it's egotism, at least if you name it for yourself. I doubt seriously that a bunch of public school black kids excluded from the Kennedy School just as surely as if they were on Mars really give a shit who the damn thing is named after.

Reprobate knows for a fact that the dastardly Rep. Rangel gets up at five every morning and rolls his own phone calls while FTR is snuggled up in his bed dreaming about peeing on more successful comedians.

Yes, the world is a court of law, retrobate. You have completely and effectually presented your case. I am guilty.

When you decide to join humans in the real world, let us know.

And, HOLY SHIT WAS THAT A LAME ATTEMPT AT HUMOR.

FTR was actually walking a picket line at 6 am. But you are cute.

"Democrats: half as crazy as ron paul" might work well, too.

+1 (explanation, advocacy)

Oh my. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for including me in on some obvious information that is totally irrelevant to a member of the House of Representatives creating his own presidential library.

And thank you for bolding the word "bad." It sort of made more of an inpact than the hacky use of "quotes."

They should totally run on that.

Democrats: No Ron Paul Supporters Here