McCain Decries Bailout Earmarks

By Andy Barr / Politico

John McCain expressed outrage over earmarks in the Senate bailout package, a bill he voted for Wednesday night.

“It’s insanity, and it’s obscenity because it’s a waste of taxpayers’ dollars, and it goes on,” McCain said on MSNBC.

“And until we stop it, until we get, frankly, a president who will say I’m going to veto those bills, I’m going to make the people famous that put them on there, famous — and by the way, Joe, you know that this problem has grown and grown and grown,” McCain added. “There’s a sharp difference, a total difference between myself and President Bush on the issue of pork barrel and earmarks and out-of-control spending and the growth of government without paying for it. Don’t forget that part.”

The bill includes tax breaks for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as well as producers of wooden arrows used for children’s toys.

Asked why he voted for the bill, which passed 74-25, if it was “insanity,” McCain said he did it because the country is on the “brink of economic disaster.”

Defending his vote, the Arizona senator pointed to the “plenty of other bills that I fought against.”

“I voted against the Medicare prescription drug program,” McCain declared. “If you look at the Citizens for a Sound Economy, the National Taxpayers Union, the Citizens Against Government Waste, I have been a hero to them because I have fought continuously, continuously against these.”

“I fought the leadership of my party and I have had success,” the Arizona senator added. “I saved the taxpayers $6.8 billion on a tanker deal that was going to cost the taxpayers that much because of this cozy deal. It ended up with people in jail.”

McCain then attacked Barack Obama, who he said “has never stood up to the leadership of his party on any issue. Not a one.”

VP Debate Moderator Ifill Releasing a Pro-Obama Book

From Michelle Malkin:

My dictionary defines “moderator” as “the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting.” On Thursday, PBS anchor Gwen Ifill will serve as moderator for the first and only vice presidential debate. The stakes are high. The Commission on Presidential Debates, with the assent of the two campaigns, decided not to impose any guidelines on her duties or questions.

But there is nothing “moderate” about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama. She’s so far in the tank for the Democrat presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out.

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate. She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on January 20, 2009 – a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States.

The title of Ifill’s book? “Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.” Nonpartisan my foot.

Ifill’s publisher, Random House, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Governor Deval Patrick. The official promo for the book gushes:

“In The Breakthrough, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power…Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Senator Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the ‘black enough’ conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history.”
Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the “Age of Obama.” Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the “stunning” McCain campaign and its “bold” path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day – and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation’s sole vice presidential debate?

Joe Biden and the Bridges to Two Nowheres

The above video notes that Biden requested 116 earmarks this year for a total of 342 million dollars. Included in those earmarks is the Indian River Inlet Bridge, which according to the report, did not need to be replaced.

In addition:

he actually voted for Alaska’s Bridge to Nowhere. Twice. That’s right. He and Senator Barack Obama were among the 93 Senators who voted for the massive 2005 Transportation Bill funding the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere and thousands of other projects across the country. And when another Senator tried to divert the Bridge to Nowhere money to fix a bridge to New Orleans damaged by Katrina, Senators Biden and Obama and 80 other Senators present voted against the amendment.