Senator Byrd

[signguymark]

I know people outside of the state of West Virginia get irritated at Byrd for being the King of Pork, but if you stop him, you've gotta stop them all. Byrd has brought much prosperity to our state by his influence. Those jobs are going to go somewhere--why not here? We still have NO military installation to speak of (army base, etc.) we have no national parks (one national river--the New River Gorge). We have no major metro area of more than 100,000 or so. We love him--most of us, anyway, because of his ability to bring real jobs to people who need a real job base other than coal! West Virginia has a real chance to compete in the nation and world because of Byrd. Thank god for him, or the exodus of our young people would be far worse than it is. I think some states are just jealous that they don't have a guy like him to fight for tham.

[WeaponOfMassInstruction]

Welcome, mark!

I agree with you, at least part of the way.

Senator Byrd should be singled out because he is the worst offender when it comes to earmarks. But no one should try to make it seem that only he does it- they all do and to the tune of hundreds of billions of our dollars wasted. You're absolutely right- they ALL need to be held accountable and the practice should end. Preferably yesterday, but I'll settle for now.

Unfortunately, Obama's recovery plan is the single largest serving of pork in the history of the world, let alone the United States. Republicans have little to no credibility when it comes to standing on conservative principal and opposing the massive expansion of government because they abandoned this (what should have been a) core value during the Bush years. It will be too easy to dismiss any opposition as being 'partisan politics', especially in the Senate, where the GOP spent money just as readily, if not moreso, than any Democrat would have. The GOP is going to have to earn the trust of the public again and it's likely going to take quite a while to do so....and it should.

[MrSinatra]

one of the reasons i really liked mccain was he NEVER did pork.

bho can't say the same. byrd is a senile embarrassment.