obama's earmarks

[john9001]

obama has been hitting palin for her "earmarks", i was going to post a list of obama's earmarks but the list is too long and i'm lazy, so i will just post a obama web site, do your own google search for obama earmarks.

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070621-obama_announces_3/


i did not even try to add all them up.

[Elfie]

Senator Barack Obama on Thursday released a list of $740 million in earmarked spending requests that he had made over the last three years, and his campaign challenged Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to do the same.The list included $1 million for a hospital where Mr. Obama’s wife works, money for several projects linked to campaign donors and support for more than 200 towns, civic institutions and universities in Illinois.

But as the Senate debated a bill to restrict the controversial method of paying for home-state projects — a measure defeated Thursday evening — Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign also said that only about $220 million worth of his requests had been approved by Congress. And among those that had been killed were his request in 2006 for $1 million for an expansion of the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, is a vice president.

Requested $740 million, $200 million got approved and he bashes Sarah Palin for $27 million? 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14campaign.html

That's from the NY Times, so no one can claim it's a right wing rag trying to smear Obama.

[crockett]

Obama isn't running around claiming he never asked for earmarks or claiming he turns them down like Palin "claimed". There is likely a bit of a difference in 200 million for a entire state over 3 years vs 27 million for a town with a population of 6,700 but i guess you be the judge on that. 

How much has McSame asked for and received over his 100 years in the Senate?

btw it also seems McSame complained about Palin's earmarks while she was mayor.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,284198.story

As for Obama the $200 million that he got over 3 years isn't really that outrageous because he is a Senator not a small town mayor. From what they reported the only questionable spending was on the Hospital and that was because his wife worked there and that was only 1 million. We are talking a million bucks for an expansion to a hospital at a major city.. In fact it was the University of Chicago Hospital.

The only other big one that suck out was 8 million to a defense contractor.

That same year, Obama requested $8 million in funding for “High Explosive Air Burst Technology” made by General Dynamics, a military contractor with close ties to a major fundraiser.

edit** The $1 million on the emergancy call center was for Palin not McCain

edit.. well I can't find any full lists on McSame's earmarks just bits and pieces here and there it doesn't look like he's publicly released his like Obama has. If he has I couldn't find it.

However I did find this and it seems his claims to cut 100's of billions in earmarks is a bunch of BS. Here is a video of him talking about it and he can barely name any specific earmarks that he plans to cut. In fact the only way he can cut that much is if he starts cutting defense spending along with aid to Iseral. This video from CNN pretty much nails him down on it and he can't name what he plans to cut other than defense spending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akeFON3kg5E

So there yea go military peeps, McCain plans to cut spending on Defense and he even admits it.

[Hangtime]

Obama isn't running around claiming he never asked for earmarks or claiming he turns them down like Palin "claimed". There is likely a bit of a difference in 200 million for a entire state over 3 years vs 27 million for a town with a population of 6,700. 

How much has McSame asked for and received over his 100 years in the Senate?

btw it also seems McSame complained about Palin's earmarks while she was mayor.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,284198.story

McCain has never requested an earmark for his state. In fact he's introduced legislation to ban it.

Was voted down by the democrats.

Whotta surprise.

[crockett]

McCain has never requested an earmark for his state. In fact he's introduced legislation to ban it.

Was voted down by the democrats.

Whotta surprise.

Well if it's true then good for him, but it still don't change the fact he doesn't seem to want to or be able to answer where he will cut these 100's of billion of dollars a year.

I totally support doing away with earmarks and I think bills should be voted on item by item, but I don't think McCain will actually do away with them if he was elected. He just sounds like a broken record in the video I posted he just says "I'll cut billions of dollars" over and over. The problem is where is he going to cut it? Like in the reporter says in the video, the only way he can cut the 100's of billions like he claims, is to cut all aid to Israel and cut defense spending.

I'm quite sure Republicans wont support cutting aid to Israel and cutting defense spending.. 

[sunfan1121]

Well if it's true then good for him, but it still don't change the fact he doesn't seem to want to or be able to answer where he will cut these 100's of billion of dollars a year.

I totally support doing away with earmarks and I think bills should be voted on item by item, but I don't think McCain will actually do away with them if he was elected. He just sounds like a broken record in the video I posted he just says "I'll cut billions of dollars" over and over. The problem is where is he going to cut it? Like in the reporter says in the video, the only way he can cut the 100's of billions like he claims, is to cut all aid to Iseral and cut defense spending.

cutting earmarks wont save billions of dollars?

[Elfie]

Obama isn't running around claiming he never asked for earmarks or claiming he turns them down like Palin "claimed". There is likely a bit of a difference in 200 million for a entire state over 3 years vs 27 million for a town with a population of 6,700 but i guess you be the judge on that

She isn't against earmarks, she is just against abuse of the system.

The list included $1 million for a hospital where Mr. Obama’s wife works, money for several projects linked to campaign donors

That is the kind of crap that is abusing the system.

I'm not against small towns getting money for projects they need, especially for growing towns. There is probably a better way to go about it than using earmarks, but atm that is the system we have. Some folks use it, some abuse it.

[Elfie]

Well if it's true then good for him, but it still don't change the fact he doesn't seem to want to or be able to answer where he will cut these 100's of billion of dollars a year.

Stopping earmarks will, so will stopping foreign aid to nations that don't particularly like us. He has mentioned both.

[Getback]

What waste spending as Obama ever stopped or any democrat for that matter? What taxes have they ever cut or what spending have they ever cut? What taxes do they want to raise?

You know that old saying about a liberal "They're nice guys, they'll give you the shirt off some one else's back".

[Donzo]

Well if it's true then good for him,

Good job on fact checking before your previous post 

but it still don't change the fact he doesn't seem to want to or be able to answer where he will cut these 100's of billion of dollars a year.

psssttt...cutting back or eliminating earmarks will cut the 100's of billions

I totally support doing away with earmarks and I think bills should be voted on item by item, but I don't think McCain will actually do away with them if he was elected.

And you base this on.....?  The fact that he is not Obama?  The fact that you want it to be that way?  The fact that you have no idea what you are talking about and just have to say negative things about any opposition to your golden boy, Obama?

He just sounds like a broken record in the video I posted he just says "I'll cut billions of dollars" over and over. The problem is where is he going to cut it? Like in the reporter says in the video, the only way he can cut the 100's of billions like he claims, is to cut all aid to Israel and cut defense spending.

I'm quite sure Republicans wont support cutting aid to Israel and cutting defense spending.. 

You mean like Bill did?

[Elfie]

the only way he can cut the 100's of billions like he claims, is to cut all aid to Israel and cut defense spending.

Aid to Israel is a drop in the bucket. Israel got a total of 2.5 billion in 2007.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/U.S._Assistance_to_Israel1.html

Let's start with cutting out the waste first, then social welfare programs that aren't working, then see where we need to go from there.

[crockett]

cutting earmarks wont save billions of dollars?

He didn't say "billions" he's claiming 100's of billions, that's what he claims on TV all the time. While earmarks are a problem they aren't 100's of billions of dollars worth of problems each year. I think the last time I looked we spent I 575 billion on the war in Iraq since the beginning.

100 billion is a crap load of money much less 100's of billions. I'm sorry but McCain is just pure full of crap on this issue because there is no way on Earth that he could cut "hundreds" of billions in earmark spending with out drastically cutting defense spending along with the money going to Israel. We don't even send Israel 100's of billions each year, it's something like 52 billion total since the state was formed.

The fact is like I posted in my earlier post much of our defense spending comes from Federal earmarks as in the case of the 8 billion with Obama that was given to General Dynamics. McCain is just talking out his aruse on this one, just like Palin is when she claims she didn't support the bridge to nowhere and claims she gave the money back when she didn't. She just spent it on other things.

As I said I'm all for doing away with wasteful spending with federal earmarks but many of them are legit and there is just no possiable way he can cut the money he claims. 

[crockett]

Good job on fact checking before your previous post 

psssttt...cutting back or eliminating earmarks will cut the 100's of billions

And you base this on.....?  The fact that he is not Obama?  The fact that you want it to be that way?  The fact that you have no idea what you are talking about and just have to say negative things about any opposition to your golden boy, Obama?

You mean like Bill did?

What because I don't believe him means I didn't check facts? He's voted yes for lots of bills giving away wasteful federal earmark money. For someone who claims I need to do fact checking you your self need to do some fact checking on how much is actually given away via earmarks. As a point of reference we have spent 575 billion on the war in Iraq. You honestly think McCain is going to cut half the cost of the Iraq war every year?

get real..

[lazs2]

I would support getting rid of earmarks if you could get rid of unfunded government mandates at the same time...

There are earmarks and then there are earmarks.

If your EPA aholes tell your community of 3,000 that you have to put a 40 million dollar upgrade on your sewage treatment plant or fart diffusers on you cattle in order to maybe protect the 3 eyed bulgarian newt that some pony tailed acadamian found in a puddle somewhere... 

You damn well better go after those grants and earmarks.

lazs

[crockett]

Aid to Israel is a drop in the bucket. Israel got a total of 2.5 billion in 2007.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/U.S._Assistance_to_Israel1.html

Let's start with cutting out the waste first, then social welfare programs that aren't working, then see where we need to go from there.

You are proving my point.. the entire time we have been giving Israel aid money the total over the years is 52 to 60 billion. So as you say 2.5 billion is a drop in the bucket yet Israel is one of the biggest recipients of our foreign aid money which is considered a earmark.  So where exactly is McCain going to cut the other $197.5 billion dollars.. 

Like I said he's talking a bunch of bull cocky. But wait I guess he still needs to find the full 200 billion because he's not even going to cut the aid to Israel.

As I said the only place he could cut that much money is to severally cut defense spending and even then it would be hard pressed to find 100 billion much less 200 or "hundreds of billions" that was wasteful spending.

Just to give another comparison on just how much "hundreds of billions" is.. in 2007 the entire US defense budget was $439.3 Billion.