Now I see why you support Santorum. You make is sound like it was Newt who spent those earmarks. But Santorum spent far more in his own state, than Newt ever thought of.
You Santorum supporters are beginning so sound a lot like him. No wonder he will get his clock cleaned against Obama.
Hate to break it to you Newt supporters... Newt is done, finished as a Presidential candidate,,, his biggest donor Sheldon Adelson has pulled the plug on Newt Presidential campaign, I guess Sheldon Adelson has seen the writing on the wall...
I’m guessing you have no idea how many dollars of earmarks Newt obtained for Georgia during his tenure. I certainly don’t — nobody writes about it. And I don’t “know” how much Santorum did either, just how much people say he did, with occasional links to blogs that repeat the same things.
Fact: It was Newt Gingrich who created the modern earmark. Before he was in leadership, earmarks were the purview of the budget committees. Newt convinced his fellow republicans that earmarks could be good for everybody. After the 2004 takeover, he told all of them to vote earmarks to bring money back home to their constituents, to help them get more support in the next elections.
Santorum learned about earmarks and their political purpose from the master.
Of course, this whole “negative attack” presupposes that there is an inherent evil in congress directly controlling where money is spent. I reject that notion, and would rather have my representative directing money to a specific needed project than to let the machinery of the executive branch decide where to send the money with no chance of me voting them out of office.
The problem with earmarks isn’t that they exist, or how much money is spent. It’s when the earmarks are for useless things, or things the government has no business doing.
And since Gingrich and Santorum are running for PRESIDENT, who the hell cares about congressional earmarks? President’s don’t get earmarks, and there’s no chance the house and senate would pass an actual LAW banning them, and if they did, every president would sign it in a second, even Obama, because it would increase presidential power.
SO I have no idea why anybody would be basing any part of their vote decision on what Gingrich or Santorum did with regard to earmarks years ago.