Democrats had complained bitterly in recent years that Republicans routinely slipped multimillion-dollar pet projects into spending bills at the end of the legislative process, preventing any chance for serious public scrutiny. Now Democrats are poised to do the same. Full Story »
Posted by Kaizar Campwala
Phonemarking and other techniques certainly bear public scrutiny. The article includes some interesting evidence, but also includes some unnecessary editorializing.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Despite promises of "cleaning up Congress", Democrats have shown that it's the same old ballgame in D.C. This story lays that all out in detail.
John Solomon, one of the authors of this piece, has a documented history of using innuendo to slant articles against Democrats (see "Related Stories" Media Matters reference below). It will be interesting to see if this piece winds up on the Media Matters "hit parade".
This story is accurate in its reporting, quotes extensively from the Democrats seeking to defend their new process of earmarking, and is informative about how this compares with their prior on-the-record attitudes against earmarking behind closed doors.
How "near" are Pelosi's family's four buildings to the Port of San Francisco--two blocks? Half a mile? Hard to assess her potential conflict with such a vague description. Why did Reid (and others) ask for continued spending on geothermal energy--because he thinks it's a good idea, or because Nevada businesses are engaged in such projects? The story never says. Those C-17s that Rohrabacher wants to support--are those old or new types of aircraft? Maybe I should know this, but I don't, and I suspect other readers who don't closely follow military issues don't know either. The implications about these politicians' behavior aren't backed up with specifics or aren't entirely clear. Overall, though, the story makes what seems like a ... More »
Retrieving Comments
