John McCain Is Getting It All Wrong (Again)
John McCain sure is enjoying himself.
"I think more and more Americans are against it," Mr. McCain said of the earmarks in the spending bill, which he strongly opposed. "I Twitter the top 10 pork barrel projects," he added, a reference to the messaging service. "We have gotten incredible response from it, now from local media people in the area where these earmarks take place. It's really been a lot of fun."
Yes, "fun." It might be less "fun," though, if McCain paid any attention to the scrutiny the "pork" has received of late. Many of the items of his top-10 list have turned out to be entirely worthwhile projects, and the list keeps growing.
"How does one manage a beaver?" U.S. Sen. John McCain asked his followers from the Senate floor this week.
McCain's derisive comments -- "$650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi," he typed on his Twitter mini-blog -- came as part of his continuing campaign against directed spending, or earmarks, in the federal government.
But he angered workers in North Carolina who say they know full well how to manage beavers: Trap the critters, blow up their dams and let the water flow.
State and federal wildlife officials claim to have saved nearly $5 million last year in potential flood damage to farms, timber lands, roadways and other infrastructure through its Beaver Management Assistance Program -- the same one McCain was making fun of in Washington.
"Maybe you should ask him how much he knows about this and why he picked it out for ridicule," said U.S. Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) "We know why he chose this -- because it sounds funny."
