On Earmarks, McCain Tilting at Windmills

Sen. targets maple topping in anti-pork campaign

(NEWSER) - The omnibus spending bill may have failed , but one sticky situation persists: In compiling his list of the bill's 10 most egregious wastes of money, John McCain ridiculed a $165,000 earmark for maple syrup research as an example of absurd pork—but the maple industry says it’s anything but. “This is a lifeline,” says a rep, “not only for Vermont, but for all of the maple industry.” It turns out the industry is in crisis after a bad harvest, giving ground to Canada; it needs to be more efficient. A nontraditional technique could save production, but it requires study, reports the Huffington Post . More»

(NEWSER) - Critics, most notably John McCain, have lambasted the latest omnibus spending bill for its 8,500 earmarks; one frequently cited provision is $1 million to fight Mormon crickets in Utah. “Is that a species of cricket or a game played by the Brits?” joked McCain over Twitter. But to residents of Grouse Creek, Utah, the Mormon crickets aren’t a joke—they’re a plague, the Washington Post reports. More»

Some say he missed opportunity; others fault lack of specifics

(NEWSER) - President Obama announced moves to curb pork-barrel spending yesterday, but not as decisively as some hoped, Politico reports. Obama said he was signing the “imperfect omnibus because it’s necessary for the ongoing functions of government,” but in future he wants fewer earmarks in federal spending measures, and those destined for private companies opened to competition. But since he didn’t specify actual cuts, lawmakers may ignore him. More»

(NEWSER) - Most also-ran candidates slip off quietly once the presidential campaign is over, and yet the media is still interested in what John McCain has to say. The attention is undeserved, Paul Waldman writes in the American Prospect. McCain’s signature issue, earmarks, is “as substantively empty as could be,” and represents his “larger modus operandi” of cultivating journalists as a way to power. More»

Senator's attacks on federal spending starting to seem like sour grapes

(NEWSER) - John McCain's complaining about the omnibus spending bill is starting to sound more like he's trying to fight the election again instead of fighting pork-barrel spending, Mike Madden writes in Salon. The senator appears to be going out of his way to remind people how much he disagrees with President Obama, Madden writes—even mastering Twitter to post dozens of snarky comments about the bill. More»