Ablogination

As reported by the Kingsport Times-News (oddly enough), we find the most comprehensive assessment yet of the political phenomenon known as Stimulus Haters and their penchant for claiming credit for that which they profess to hate.
This is a fine article by a third rate newspaper. I suggest you relish it as they are few and far between…

We have written previously about Rep. Phil Roe and his “verbally oppose the stimulus while basking in it’s glory” attitude.
Dr. Roe’s hypocrisy on this subject is not debatable. It is irrefutable, undeniable fact. The earth is round, there’s water in the ocean, and Phil Roe is a hypocrite.

But Rep. Roe is not alone in his hypocrisy by any means. TN Sen. Lamar Alexander, TN Sen. Bob Corker and a host of other “Stimulus Hater” miscreants are all willing to join the ranks of those looking for political points, stimulus money and plausible deniability in a handy flip top box.

Average Republican and Teabagger alike have joined Rep. Roe in seeking funds from the stimulus they hate…from the gov’t they hate…for all the reasons they love. Self-Glorification, lobbyist money and Lemming-like partisanship.

I’ve said it, I’ve proved it and I’ll say it again.
TN District 1 Congressional Rep. Phil Roe is a self-absorbed, ultra-Partisan liar who is not fit to serve in public office.

From the Kingsport Times-News:

Stimulus critics - including Rep. Roe and Sens. Corker and Alexander - tried to letter-mark funds for their constituents
Published October 18th, 2010 | Added October 18th, 2010 5:16 am

According to the Center for Public Intregity Rep. Pete Sessions, the firebrand conservative from Dallas, Texas, has relentlessly assailed the Democratic-passed stimulus law as a wasteful “trillion dollar spending spree” that was “more about stimulating the government and rewarding political allies than growing the economy and creating jobs.”

But that didn’t stop the Republican lawmaker from reaching his hand out behind the scenes to seek stimulus money for the suburb of Carrollton after the camera lights went dark and the GOP campaign against the 2009 stimulus law quieted down. He wasn’t alone. First District Rep. Phil Roe wrote letter-marks for a Dollywood project and a Morristown rail project. Sen. Bob Corker wrote for funds for a Chattanooga industrial park and Sen. Alexander sent a letter-mark requesting stimulus funds for a Nashville tire and rubber firm..

The affluent city’s rail project is “shovel-ready,” Sessions wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in February, urging his cabinet agency to give “full and fair consideration” to the city’s request for $81 million in stimulus money, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. Ironically, his letter suggested the project would create jobs, undercutting the very public argument he has made against the stimulus.

“Carrollton’s project will create jobs, stimulate the economy, improve regional mobility and reduce pollution,” the lawmaker wrote.

When asked about the letter, Sessions suggested to the Center that he did not want his “strong, principled objection to the bill to prevent me” from getting his congressional district its share of the massive spending pot.

Sessions was hardly alone.

Scores of Republicans and conservative Democrats who voted against the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subsequently wrote letters requesting funds for projects in a massive, behind-the-scenes letter-writing and phone call campaign, documents obtained by the Center show.

See What Stimulus Projects Members of Congress Lobbied for in Your State

Those asking for money include Tea Party favorites like freshman Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., former presidential candidates Ron Paul and John McCain and Republican congressional leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana.

Many Democratic leaders who had boasted they prevented lawmakers from inserting special spending requests in the stimulus law when it passed also engaged in the behind-the-scenes letter writing to secure funding afterwards, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Rep. Brad Ellsworth, the Indiana Democrat now running for U.S. Senate, originally voted against the stimulus plan but later came around to cautiously supporting it. He collected $6,500 in donations from Duke Energy’s political action committee in the months just before and after he wrote an August 2009 letter supporting the utility giant’s ultimately successful request for an Energy Department grant, the Center found. Ellsworth’s office declined comment.

The letters particularly dismay conservative advocacy groups like the Tea Party and Americans for Tax Reform that have been backing Republicans in the fall election but now see a touch of hypocrisy among candidates they thought were conservative champions of federal spending cuts.

VOTE MIKE CLARK FOR US CONGRESS: Because his opponent is an asshat.