In the next two debates I hope Obama makes it more clear how small earmarks are

[Quixote1818]

as a percentage of all the spending. He needs to dumb this down so any idiot can understand that McCain is blowing smoke up our asses on the earmark thing.

Snip>

Let’s look at the little nibble we want to call earmark reform. The Politico says that this fiscal year, the Federal budget will include between 18 and 20 billion dollars’ worth of pork. That’s a lot but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the overall budget. That amount is .06 percent of the 3.1 trillion - not even one percent. So even if we got rid of earmarks entirely, the budget wouldn’t even be one percent smaller than it is right now.

http://www.sundriesshack.com/2008/02/14/want-to-solve-government-corruption-earmarks-are-small-potatoes/


http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/mccains_fantasy_war_on_earmark.html

[Danger Mouse]

1. My gut feeling is that people don't care about earmarks.

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[BlooInBloo]

6. What grates on me is people bitching about Obama not doing what he's PLAINLY done....

One's mileage may vary, apparently.

[Quixote1818]

8. For the average American his answer was too complicated

It was a John Kerry type answer. It may seem simple to you and I but for most Americans the answer was too long and didn't emphasize how tiny 18 Billion is by comparison. By saying it is less than 1% of the budget, he would be putting it in terms most Americans could wrap their simple minds around. I thought he did OK with the answer but I think he could have used percentages rather than saying 18 Billion this and 300 Billion that. By the time he was done I am sure Joe Six Pack was confused. People would have understood 1% better.

[FlyingSquirrel]

3. I think a better strategy...

would be to take a look at all the earmarks, and point out some of the ones that are NOT pork. And say, "just because it's an earmark doesn't make it 'pork.'" Obama made a mistake in the way he responded to the issue and it made him look guilty of being the stereotypical "liberal tax & spend democrat" that McCain was trying to invoke. Instead he should point out some of the things, for example, that Palin tried to get rid of as being "pork" because she didn't understand them, which were subsequently reauthorized by the Alaska legislature.

[Lord Helmet]

4. he said it was $18B a couple times compared to MCCain's $300B tax cut for corporations

[Born_A_Truman]

7. Too bad Obama can't show charts...

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

[Quixote1818]

10. Exactly!!!! Thank YOU for posting that!

It speaks volumes displayed like this.

[Lakerstan]

9. ...and some earmarks are actually (don't tell anyone) good!

Education, environment, medical research, community programs, items that create jobs for people, etc...