Palin likes her pork with a side of bacon
Posted by: Donna
This chart is from Think Progress. I wonder how conservatives in Arizona who applaud pols like McCain, Flake, and Shadegg for eschewing earmarks can reconcile this. Their temptress of the tundra, Sarah Palin, was quite the prolific pork hoover when she was the Mayor of Wasilla. She was for Ted Stevens before she was against him, working closely with the legally-challenged Senator to get the spigots of federal tax dollars a-flowing for her tiny hamlet. She even hired a lobbying firm to help her in the endeavor. Later, she restyled herself as a maverick-y reformer but Alaska still ranked #1 in earmarks per capita under her leadership as Governor.
Personally, I think Arizona’s ranking is pathetic and proof that McCain stopped giving a fig about his own constituents long ago. Not all earmarks are bridges to nowhere. They can also go to things like improving our roads, schools, and infrastructure. It’d sure be nice to see some of the federal taxes we pay being used to improve things in our own state.
I also can’t help but wonder how a mayor who got all that money for her town managed to leave it $20 million in debt by the end of her tenure. Nor can I understand how she couldn’t manage to get its meth problem under control. I guess I just don’t appreciate “executive experience”.
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First-time reader, and what a great blog! Thanks for your work.
Palin is not really a Vice Presidential candidate in this race, so the facts of her record don’t much matter. She is a “lifestyle symbol”. She gets the fundies excited and gives the heinous Rove crowd woodies.
I would not underestimate the power of this kind of pandering. It worked in 2004.
I hear ya, italiana, Palin’s a lightweight – both intellectually and ethically – but I don’t take her lightly. At all. She’s George Bush in lipstick, only more articulate.
But this post was a shout out to those “principled” conservatives in AZ who heart McCain because he screws this state over in appropriations. The media are letting Palin get away with this cock-and-bull fib about how she turns money down. Telling this to evangelicals is a waste of time but the fiscal conservatives who support her need to be called on this.