Hypocrisy at its Greatest

Why would Congress pay its own way when they can get the taxpayer to do so?


Edit: Here's a link to the article that I was responding to.
Posted by Scott at 8/10/2009 09:15:00 AM
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10 comments:

  1. ScottAugust 10, 2009 at 9:24 AM

    I'm sure this got its fair share of airtime last week; but, since I was too busy to notice, I'll post my comments now.

    WTF?!?!?!?!

    That about sums up my response; how in the hell can they get away with doing this? I don't care if it's normal procedure to replace old jets with new. I don't care if you're trying to stimulate the economy by spending your way through the Great Recession. How in the hell do you get off publicly slapping Detroit for flying private jets, then turn around and buy 8 NEW JETS OF YOUR OWN!!!?!?!?

    [/ rant]

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  2. RoyceAugust 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM

    Holy snap! Scott comes back from the dead in a big way!

    I didn't hear any play about this recently, but I also didn't watch the Daily Show in the last few weeks. I'm thrilled you posted this. Wtf is going on here? Where is the outrage at this? Particularly from within the Senate... like why isn't there a Senator or two trying to make a name for themself, saying, wait a minute you hypocritical old bastards, what are you doing wasting all this money?

    Is it just that everyone does it, and they don't care? I'm so confused

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  3. ScottAugust 10, 2009 at 11:47 AM

    I've linked to the original article (much worse than what the picture displays).

    The only conceivable reason as to why some junior Senator isn't taking to the grandstand right now is that (s)he doesn't want to "bite the hand that feeds him/her". Outside of this, I can't think of another plausible reason as to why one would go quiet on this.

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  4. AaronAugust 10, 2009 at 10:39 PM

    Scott single-handedly influenced Congress.

    Good job Scott, if we keep this blog up, we can change the world.

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  5. RoyceAugust 11, 2009 at 9:22 AM

    So it looks like Scott's article contained the most damning quote, coming directly from the Air Force / Dept of Defense:

    'Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn't request the additional planes and doesn't need them. "We ask for what we need and only what we need," he told reporters Wednesday. "We've always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for."'

    Which led directly to the following quote coming back from Congress:

    '"If the Department of Defense does not want these aircraft, they will be eliminated from the bill," Representative John Murtha, chairman of a House panel on defense appropriations, said in a statement.'

    It already is shady as fuck that these politicians are getting vacations on our dime and in unnecessarily expensive planes... when you request more than the Dept of Defense wants, then you're just making it obvious that you're screwing over the American people.

    Big ups to the Pentagon for calling them out on this and smacking down their excess.

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  6. AaronAugust 11, 2009 at 10:11 AM

    I prefer to give Scott credit for announcing the hypocrisy in this currently private blog, rather than the Pentagon Press Secretary. I don't see Geoff Morrell blogging.

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  7. AaronAugust 11, 2009 at 10:16 AM

    A new goal (but not my primary goal) for this blog is to leave interesting, funny, witty quotes.

    "Gretzky is no Ghandi."

    "I don't see Geoff Morrell blogging."

    "Honda's initial purchasing costs are lower than Buick's and Jaguar's."

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  8. RoyceAugust 11, 2009 at 12:34 PM

    Or just quotes that occurred incidentally from a conversation, but are entertaining standing alone

    Where is a good place to contain and track these quotes? Gretzky is no Ghandi tops my list

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  9. ScottAugust 11, 2009 at 1:04 PM

    I'm thinking we could create another widget/template for us to add our favorite quotes that are completely ludicrous taken out of context.

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  10. RoyceAugust 12, 2009 at 3:51 PM

    Final thought on the hypocrisy of Congres... I find it interesting that there was no opposition from within Congress on this. It leads me to believe that this was a perk which benefited both sides of the aisle equally, and therefore received less attention because it wasn't a "partisan" issue.

    In my opinion, these are the most insidious types of issues. When Congress agrees that they are all getting a good deal on something at the expense of the public, it makes me smolder inside.

    The biggest and most heinous example is campaign finance reform. I also think there are several other examples which bear scrutiny. I think this is a very important avenue of inquiry and plan to draw out more topics in this "bi-partisan benefits zone" on the blog

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