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David Obey Is The New Ted Stevens

Sen. Ted Stevens was the butt of blogosphere jokes and target of blog swarm after blog swarm for the better part of two years when Republicans controlled Congress. But with Democrats in control, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., appears to be working hard to replace Stevens as Blogosphere Enemy No. 1.

Obey caused an uproar among liberal bloggers in March when he referred to the "idiot liberals" opposed to an emergency spending bill for military operations in Afghanistan in Iraq. Now he is under fire from bloggers on the right for moving to undermine Democrats' pledge to be more transparent about "earmarking" projects in lawmakers' districts for federal spending.

Bloggers are particularly irked by reports that Obey will only add earmarks to House-Senate conference agreements that generally cannot be amendmed on the floor. In the past, earmarks have been included in the separate House and Senate versions of appropriations bills and the committee reports that accompany them.

One explanation Obey gave for the change in course is that he and his staff need "extra time to evaluate the 36,000-plus earmark requests members have submitted to the Appropriations Committee this year." But Porkbusters, the group that so often has been a thorn in Stevens' side, has a solution to that dilemma: Let bloggers help evaluate the earmark requests.

"As you know, Internet technology has made research faster and easier than at any previous time in human history," says a petition being circulated online by Porkbusters. "By releasing your 36,000 earmark requests publicly, I and other taxpayers across the country could work together in a cooperative effort to determine which Members of Congress may have financial conflicts attached to their earmark requests, which local projects may be unworthy of federal funding and which may have value to the taxpayers."

Obey may well have learned from the "idiot liberals" brouhaha, for which he apologized, that it pays to keep some opinions to himself in an era when outbursts spread virally via the Internet. But when he hears about the petition, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes refuge in a smoke-filled room somewhere on Capitol Hill -- perhaps with Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss. -- to curse the "idiot Porkbusters."

Posted by Danny | 09:18 AM

Comments

Too much pork. Too little time.

Bob | 06.15.07 09:45 AM

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