Word: earmarking
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...more than a decade,John McCain has claimed to truck with angels. He condemns his colleagues who earmark bridges or bike trails, often at the request of contributors. When a powerful trade group is arrayed against him, he bellows, "The fix is in." He exploded with contempt for the corrupting ways of Washington at one hearing in 1999. "This is Congress," McCain declared, "where telecommunications-industry lobbying is no-holds-barred...
...Seymour Hoffman). Charlie also plays the Israelis and Egyptians against each other, to get them to work together. He tries working his seductive powers on Pakistan's President Zia (Om Puri). In Congress he trades votes and cashes in favors. Essentially, he treats the Afghan war as one big earmark. He makes American generosity seem the coolest game in town - the Peace Corps reimagined as summer camp...
...implicit or explicit criticisms of Clinton: An e-mail solicitation prompted by CNN's coverage of the "beat the b**ch" episode, during which McCain played along with an overzealous questioner who used an obscenity to describe the former first lady, and his debate zinger that contrasted Clinton's earmark support for a Woodstock museum with his own experience in the Woodstock era - "I would have gone, but I was tied up at the time...
...then there's the McCain moment. Why did it galvanize the crowd? Perhaps because it brought together three Republican themes: the Democrats are the party of big spending (the museum earmark) and cultural liberalism (the Woodstock concert), while the GOP is the party that understands war ("I was tied up at the time"). It's true that McCain is uniquely qualified to make that last point--but if he's not the presidential candidate, he can advance it as the vice-presidential nominee or as a prospective Secretary of Defense. At a time of war, in a culturally conservative country...
...Forty-five percent of the money spent on American roads comes to the states from the Federal Government, but Congress hasn't raised the gas tax, its main source of highway funds, since 1993. And that's just fine by people who find the free market efficient and earmark-free...