Now that Democrats have control of Congress, President Bush has launched a highly visible talking point blizzard on the evils of Congressional earmarks. Congressional earmarks, we're told, are quintessential pork-barrel money wasters.
Remember, however, this is coming from a fiercely partisan President who politicized formerly non-partisan government actions, and seeks to expand the Executive Branch's power whenever possible. This leads one to question whether it is the earmarks that Bush opposes - or the "Congressional" part. Today's New York Times documents the answer:
From Bush, Foe of Earmarks, Similar Items
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: February 10, 2008
...
The White House contends that when the president requests money for a project, it has gone through a rigorous review — by the agency, the White House or both — using objective criteria.
Of course, those criteria were applied by the likes of Lurita Doan (continued)
Remember Bush Leaguer Lurita Doan?
The meeting was headed by Scott Jennings, a deputy to Karl Rove, the leading political strategist at the White House; some officials participated by videoconference. A 28-slide PowerPoint presentation at the meeting named 20 Democratic members of Congress that the White House is targeting for defeat in 2008. The presentation also listed the 36 Republican members of Congress the White House considers most vulnerable.
...
Once the Jan. 26 presentation was over, Doan was alleged to have said, "How can we help our candidates in the next election?" Doan testified she does not recall saying that.
(Source: GSA chief grilled over potential Hatch Act violations, Daniel Pulliam at govexec.com, March 28, 2007 [emphasis added])
Of course, the Bush Administration has somewhat of a reputation for politicizing things:
Bush appointees 'watered down greenhouse science'
Suzanne Goldenberg and James Randerson in Washington
The Guardian, Tuesday March 20 2007
The Bush administration ran a systematic campaign to play down the dangers of climate change, demanding hundreds of politically motivated changes to scientific reports and muzzling a pre-eminent expert on global warming, Congress was told yesterday.
And, of course:
Evidence of Bush administration and industry interference with murrelet protections
Documents released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request show that Julie MacDonald, former Fish and Wildlife Service deputy assistant secretary, was mucking around with a review of protections for marbled murrelets, a small West Coast seabird that nests in the forests.
(Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer "Dateline Earth" blog
All in all, Bush's problem with earmarks seems to be more a matter of shifting the power of earmarking funds for political purposes to the executive branch rather than stopping government waste.
I'm shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that George Bush is yet again cynically posturing as a fiscally responsible guy while running yet another scam on the voters.