Yesterday marked one year since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed, a tough move by the Obama administration to try to get the economy he encountered when he came into office.back on track and get people back to work. I think it's safe to say now that the decision to pass the Recovery Act was not an easy one, and has done little to help President Obama in daily approval tracking polls, and his political opponents have let him know it every chance they got. But some members have been railing against the stimulus in the press, calling it wasteful spending, then turning around and secretly lobbying for stimulus money for projects in their districts.
Who would commit such a blatant campaign of dishonesty? Well, as you may have guessed, Reps. Joe Wilson and Henry Brown, as well as Sen. Jim DeMint all voted against the stimulus, but reaped the benefits of funding for projects that they sought funding for!
Chair of the national Democratic Party, Tim Kaine, said the doubletalk was, "about politics, pure and simple."
SC Democratic Party Chair, Carol Fowler, said DeMint and Wilson "misled their constituents about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by railing against it while they knew it would create or save jobs in our state."
But DeMint and Wilson are not alone. From the Washington Times,
More than a dozen Republican lawmakers, while denouncing the stimulus to the media and their constituents, privately sent letters to just one of the federal government's many agencies seeking stimulus money for home-state pork projects. [...]
Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican who became famous after yelling, "You lie," during Mr. Obama's addresses to Congress in September, voted against the stimulus. Nonetheless, Mr. Wilson elbowed his way into the rush for federal stimulus cash in a letter he sent to Mr. Vilsack on behalf of a foundation seeking funding.
"We know their endeavor will provide jobs and investment in one of the poorer sections of the Congressional District," he wrote to Mr. Vilsack in the Aug. 26, 2009, letter.
"Congressman Wilson's position on the stimulus bill is consistent," said spokeswoman Pepper Pennington. She said Mr. Wilson opposed the stimulus as a "misguided spending bill," but once it passed, he wanted to make sure South Carolina residents "receive their share of the pie."
And the hits just keep on coming... here's a video from the Democratic Party taking a look at some of the GOP's worst offenders:
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