Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[ice grillin you]

the earmarks are irrelevant in the big picture as the amount of money they take up is miniscule when you look at the amounts of money in the bills...but still...he should have vetoed it...period...he went against a campaign promise and it makes him look bad

[Diomedes]

how could he have vetoed that bill?  shut down the federal government in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, as we're conducting two wars?  that makes no sense at all

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

The only reason to be upset is that the country can't actually pay for it.

Yeah, blame Obama for that.

Did I?

[ice grillin you]

how could he have vetoed that bill?  shut down the federal government in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, as we're conducting two wars?  that makes no sense at all

the bill yesterday wasnt  a stimulus plan or the federal budget...it was budget money for govt agencies who have been on a continuing resolution since september...another few days or even couple weeks wouldnt have mattered...last year the CR didnt end till almost april

veto the bill send it back to congress and tell them to take the earmarks out of it...it was very simple and very doable...he caved

[Diomedes]

my understanding is that without the earmarks it wouldn't have had the votes to pass;  cutting them out would have triggered a wholesale rewriting of the bill, which would take months, stalling all kinds of other work that needs to be done

[ice grillin you]

so then it would have been on congress not barry...and it would have never been months but even if it had so what...the govt would just be run on last years budget which is what they have been doing since oct 1 anyway

even if it was just a political move where he sent it back they made some meaningless changes and he signed a new one you couldnt have put a price on the positive PR he would have gotten

[phillymic2000]

I like what Obama did.  He couldn't control this omnibus spending bill because it was negotiated before his time, and he could not reject it either because the government needs to pass the legislation in order to keep running.  So he signed it, and laid out guidelines that make sense.  Earmarks are not necessarily bad.  The way they have been used is the problem.  Anonymous insertion of earmarks, insertion of earmarks ten minutes before the vote, etc.  The rules the admin has proposed will bring transparency and due process to the practice which will greatly improve their usage.  I don't understand why anyone would be so upset with this unless it's simply a matter of being against Obama no matter what he does.

Veto!

He ran part of his campaign on changing D.C.  to stand up there, rail against earmarks and then sign it is laughable.

[ice grillin you]

slow ya roll zealout...its not even close to laughable...but he should have done it

[phillymic2000]

You did not find that funny at all, it should be turned into a SNL skit.

[ice grillin you]

would have been a brilliant move had he done it....but the fact that he didnt do it barely registers

[phillymic2000]

and thats the sad thing, he claims change and he failed on this attempt. Hope the President has better luck next time when dealing with Nancy and Harry.

[ice grillin you]

its not really change...earmarks make up less than 2% of the bill...if some of them had been taken out it would have been a huge political victory and PR move for barry but nothing would have 'changed'...

earmarks and pork are just talking points...its for right wing freaks lisuch as yourself to blow your lids yelling about how wasteful government is when in fact they arent even a blip on the radar when it comes to the overall spending done by the govt

[Diomedes]

Not to mention that republicans love the earmarks just as much as anyone else judging by past usage of them.

[ice grillin you]

Not to mention that republicans love the earmarks just as much as anyone else judging by past usage of them.

mos def

they are just as shook by obama threats of no more earmarks as dems...in fact congressmen think it is there right to put in special projects for their districts...its why they are elected...and really they have a point...i mean if my vote sends my congressmen to dc i want him to be getting shtein for me

[Rome]

The outcry over earmarks is absolutely ridiculous.  Earmarks don't necessarily equal wasteful spending any more than good legislation equals bad.