Jack Kingston and Pork
GOP Congressman Jack Kingston's office has developed a new online tool called "MailTube" that allows him to interact via video with his constituents, bloggers, etc. It's a very innovative idea. Using it for the first time yesterday, Kingston replied to this question: bq. "Congressman Kingston, why haven't you joined other Georgia Republican Congressmen and the Club for Growth in cutting government spending?" While I applaud Kingston for always being on the cutting edge of the Internet and continually reaching out to the blogosphere, I'm afraid his answer to the above question fell flat. Dave Holman of the American Spectator said it was a "bumbling journey through the sausage making of the Appropriations Committee". Very true. Kingston's answer is typical of the big-spending attitudes that pervade the Republican Party in Washington these days. He essentially argued that in order to pass appropriations bills, you need to convince members of both parties to vote YES. How do you do that? You buy them off with pork projects. Kingston doesn't say it that explicitly, but there's no denying that that was his meaning. And even if you agree with his premise, then I'd have to argue that the GOP leadership is overreaching. Just yesterday, I blogged about how approps bills pass by extremely wide margins (380-38 on average). I think by any standard, the GOP could give away less pork, lose some YES votes, and still pass their spending bills. If Kingston is truly an innovative guy who is embracing the blogosphere, and I honestly think he is, then he'll realize sooner or later that bloggers will ultimately win this war on pork. Every dark corner of the sausage factory will eventually get blazened with sunlight as more and more bloggers put pressure on Congress. We are just in the nascent stages, and already we're having a dramatic impact. Rather than poorly defend the good ol' boy spending practices of Congress to bloggers, Kingston should task the blogosphere with helping Republicans to pass lean, pork-free spending bills. We're ready to fight the big fights. We're ready to do some heavy lifting. And we'll sing his praises every step of the way. Not only is it the right thing to do, but I think he would find it politically wise, as well. (SIDENOTE: To Jason, the guy who asked the MailTude question. Send me your street address and we'll mail you a Club for Growth t-shirt! Email is "aroth at clubforgrowth dot org".) UPDATE (10:43am): Jason contacted me. The t-shirt is on the way. Readers can visit his blog here.
