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John McCain: Twitchy Twiddling Twerp Twittering Twaddle

March 10, 2009, 12:50PM

John McCain has gotten onboard the GOP's horseless wagon powered by the content of that newfangled Web technology which now floods the datastreams with vacuity, Twitter. McCain stands proudly together with other Republicans, as Tweety Blurred LooneyCons, the GOP's rank, texting byte-sized messages small enough to be ingested by The Party's defiled. To believe Twitter is the path that leads to a future Republican majority is InterTubular Fails.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has taken his fight against wasteful government spending to the Twitter social networking site and continues to push for small business tax cuts to help the sagging economy.

McCain's Twitter posts include earmarks for pet projects in various states...

McCain also criticized federal spending in the stimulus package and other appropriations bills on Fox News Sunday reaffirming his preference for tax cuts.

Mike Sunnucks , "McCain uses Twitter to fight earmarks, makes case for small business tax cuts", Phoenix Business Journal, March 9, 2009
Now some who read this will be doubters and naysayers; wondering whether McCain is actually Tweeting away, thinking that he probably has some aide do it. Justin Germany, formerly the McCain 2008 Director of Online Media, and Bush-Cheney 2004 videographer, tweeted two weeks ago about McCain taking to wing, as the skypilot in control of his twittering:
  • RT @anamariecox If you have noticed a slight change to the tone of @senjohnmccain's Tweets, that's because he now writing them himself. - 3:40 PM Feb 25th
Justin spun the truth some; but that's unsurprising considering he is a partisan loyalist media flack, and Mac elitist. The very next day, McCain tweeted about steep learning curves, keeping him from going solo navigating through the canyon lands of posting 140 character max text messages on a Blackberry alone. It was also the same day that McCain started taking his stimulus opposition to the tweets, posting lame top-ten lists of projects he asserted were wasteful:
  • YEs!! I am twittering on my blackberry but not without a little help! - - 6:07 AM Feb 26th
  • Tmr I am gonna tweet the TOP TEN PORKIEST PROJECTS in theOmnibus Spending bill the Congress is about to pass - - 10:08 AM Feb 26th
This had to be McCain's composition. No Senator's aide with even a smattering of Web2.0 self-consciousness would text the fabricated word: "Porkiest". When the medium is texting delimited by 140 characters, the message often is castaway when littered with anti-semantic folderol. Judging from what McCain presented as the most egregious examples of Congresspersons bringing the fatback back home as cracklings for their constituencies, it looks as if the Democrats have proven once again that when compared to Republicans, they are the lamer of two evils, in this instance, nowhere near as fiscally irresponsible as the debauchers who starred in The GOP Gone Wild In DC: 2002-2006. Many of McCain's examples are distorted descriptions of the funded projects, and even if every one of them are improper uses of the public treasury, the sum is insignificant, when compared to the total in the stimulus bills. I have extracted out of McCain's Twitter stream, the seven top-ten "porkiest project" lists he has posted so far. Oddly, those seven top ten lists added up only to 67, and two of those were duplicated, one within the same list. Hell, John didn't even have to take off his shoes, because he was only ciphering up to ten. If math and details aren't his strong point, maybe some other Republican should be leading this charge.

  • top 10 projects on the way... - - 5:34 AM Feb 27th
  • #10. $1.7M "for a honey bee factory" in Weslaco, TX 6:06 AM Feb 27th
  • #9. $475,000 to build a parking garage in Provo City, Utah 6:33 AM Feb 27th
  • #8. $200,000 "tattoo removal violence outreach program to could help gang members or others shed visible signs of their past" REALLY? 7:50 AM Feb 27th
  • #7. $300,000 for the Montana World Trade Center enough said 8:21 AM Feb 27th
  • #6. $1 million for mormon cricket control in Utah is that the species of cricket or a game played by the brits? 8:30 AM Feb 27th
  • #5. $650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi 10:52 AM Feb 27th
  • #4. $2.1 million for the Center for Grape Genetics in New York quick peel me a grape. 10:55 AM Feb 27th
  • #3. $332,000 for the design and construction of a school sidewalk in Franklin, Texas not enough $ for schools in the stimulus? 12:19 PM Feb 27th
  • #2. $2 million "for the promotion of astronomy" in Hawaii because nothing says new jobs for average Americans like investing in astronomy 1:56 PM Feb 27th
  • and the #1 project is... 2:26 PM Feb 27th
  • #1. $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa 2:37 PM Feb 27th
  • Back by popular demand, another Top 10... 8:36 AM Mar 2nd
  • #10. $100,000 for the Central Nebraska World Trade Center 8:36 AM Mar 2nd
  • #9. $143,000 to teach art energy Art can produce energy? If so, then investing in the arts may lead to energy independence. 8:50 AM Mar 2nd
  • #8. $167,000 for the Autry National Center for the American West in Los Angeles, CA 9:14 AM Mar 2nd
  • Hopefully for a Back in the Saddle Again exhibit, Autry's most popular song for those of you too young to remember America's Favorite Cowboy 9:18 AM Mar 2nd
  • #7. $1,427,250 for genetic improvements of switchgrass I thought switchgrass genes were pretty good already, guess I was wrong. 12:38 PM Mar 2nd
  • #6. $100,000 for the regional robotics training center in Union, SC Does R2D2 or CP30 know about this? 12:48 PM Mar 2nd
  • #5. $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii During these tough economic times with Americans out of work... 12:56 PM Mar 2nd
  • #5. cont: why shouldn't we "float" a Hawaiian voyage for others?" 12:57 PM Mar 2nd
  • #4. $143,000 for Nevada Humanities to develop and expand an online encyclopedia Anyone heard of Wikipedia? 12:57 PM Mar 2nd
  • #3. $150,000 for a rodeo museum in South Dakota 12:58 PM Mar 2nd
  • #2. $250,000 to enhance research on Ice Seal populations 7:58 AM Mar 2nd
  • and the number 1 porkiest project for today... 1:00 PM Mar 2nd
  • #1. $951,500 for Sustainable Las Vegas 1:03 PM Mar 2nd
  • today's top 10 to come shortly 6:50 AM Mar 4th
  • 10. $190,000 to build a Living Science Museum in New Orleans, LA 8:09 AM Mar 4th
  • #9. $380,000 for a recreation and fairground area in Kotzebue, AK 8:37 AM Mar 4th
  • #8. $118,750 for a building to house an aircraft display in Rantoul, IL 8:38 AM Mar 4th
  • #7. $7,100,000 for the conservation and recovery of endangered Hawaiian sea turtle populations 9:46 AM Mar 4th
  • see the sea turtles on your $238,000 Polynesian Voyage 9:48 AM Mar 4th
  • #6. $950,000 for a Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, SC 9:53 AM Mar 4th
  • #5. 150,000 for lobster research similar to lobster managment? 11:02 AM Mar 4th
  • #4. All 13 earmarks for PMA group, which has been raided by the FBI for corruption, totaling over $10 million -THE BEST GOVERNMENT $ CAN BUY 11:50 AM Mar 4th
This post is already long enough, so i won't detail the many gross misrepresentations within McCain's examples, still anything that funds construction, and uses local contractors will have a positive near-term effect on the economy.

Additionally, here's a bit of ciphering illuminating that McCain's message is nothing but hyperbole. He has so far twittered about 65 different projects he considers to be the "porkiest". The funds budgeted for those 65 projects total up to be $52,545,096, out of what McCain claimed to be $787,000,000,000 in omnibus spending bills. McCain's examples of wasteful Congressional pet projects is 0.0067% of the total spending. That's smaller that most rounding errors.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS (24) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (15)

24 Comments

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great slice of twitter life.

There's something to be said for Senators devoting 100% of their time to less than 1% of the Federal budget.

McCain gives 110%, so the ratio is even smaller.

Posted by tpmgary
March 10, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Twitter. If mcCain can do it, so can you! Repub policy analysis in less than 140 characters. Bite size thinking for the Party of No.

mccain - almost as many houses and cars as words he can twitter!

Thank you, PCA. :)

Posted by TheraP
March 10, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
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See, THIS is the good fight. The fight against obfuscation. The fight against lies. Well done. Really.

Oh, and pig odor/aroma/air pollution is a cause for great concern for those with respiratory problems, children.....

But boiling it down to a percentage--really well done PCA

Posted by dickday
March 10, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
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The worst of the pig odors is most likely coming from non-family owned corporate factory farms, that pollute the environment with an unbelievable quantity of hog feces from the mass production, which also amounts to animal cruelty. Here's a few facts about some of the projects that McCain criticised.

I believe the honey bee factory in Weslaco, TX, refers to research being done at Texas A&M, looking at regular honey bees as well as African varieties. There have been some frightful die offs of honey bee colonies> The Africanised bees have a stronger constitution and are not as prone to dying off, yet they are also very aggressive, are not hesitant about making hives in heavily populated areas, and will swarm un attacks without much provocation. Some of the hive die offs have been tracked to genetically modified plants that create their own pesticide/herbicide. Others have been traced to the normal application of pesticide/herbicide that contain compounds exceedingly toxic to bees. There have been instances of this also affecting butterflies. if human activity screws up the pollinators, it's the end of the world as we know it.

The Mormon Cricket is in reality a flightless katydid that can reach 3" in length. Generally they live in sparsely populated groups, but infrequently and for uncertain causes. the can swarm up into unbelievably large groups. When they swarm, they can destroy a tremendous area of cropland, as they have strong preference for grassy lush plants that produce large numbers of seeds. They range in N.America from S.Canada to N. Arizona and New Mexico. - from just inside the Pacific coastal mountain ranges to the western side of the great plains - found in elevations above 11,000" and as low as 500' -. Anywhere where sage brush is a common native plant.

Beaver damages to just timber in SE America is estimated between $3-5 million annually. Beaver activity can also cause railroad trestles and roads to become damaged, as well as flooding out large areas of cultivated land.

Switchgrass is a plant native throughout the great plains, can grow in poor conditions, and is thought to have better potential for use as a producer of biofuels than both corn and surgar cane. It throws down deep roots that and tall stiff grass that helps mitigate soil erosion, as well as replenish organic material in the soil. It takes almost no maintenance to cultivate. It is a perennial that lives an estimated 10 years, and is capable of overseeding itself.

The online encyclopedia published by the non-profit org, Nevada Humanities, is a project to place online, Nevada historical information written by History scholars, and recognized author experts. To compare it demeaningly to Wikipedia reaches almost to slander.

The Sustainable Las Vegas Project is now a several year old effort by local city and county officials to take governmental activities as green as possible, and increase the quality of life in this Valley with forward looking decisions about well situated parklands, water as well as power conservation, and progressive ideas about power generation done at the residential level. Vegas gets a tremendous amount of sunlight each year, and one hell of a lot of wind too. The project has also done many other good things not mentioned.

The PMA group did indeed have the FBI execute a search warrant on their Suburban DC offices. They are a very powerful lobbyist group and earned over $5mil from their clients in 2006/2006, as well as about $13.5mil in 2008. They represent some very big players in defense contracting with a focus on technology. The group was founded by a former aide to John Murtha, and over the years has contributed much more to Democrats than Republicans. It should also be noted that The PMA Group as of yet has not been indicted for any criminal activity related to their lobbying. McCain was the only Repubican of th 5 US Senators who had their heads buried deep up Charles Keating's ass. He directly aided Keating's criminal acts with strident advocacy on his behalf, and ramming legislation through that made it difficult for oversight of Lincoln Savings and Loan by the Federal Government . McCain's father-in-law reaped great personal financial rewards from property ventures with Charles Keating disproportionate to the relative initial capitalisation that was sunk into the ventures. Keating was convicted in a California Sate court on 17 counts of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy, and subsequently was convicted if Federal Court on 73 counts of fraud, racketeering and conspiracy. He served 4 1/2 before successfully appealing the convictions on technicalities, the state convictions, because the judge had issued wrong instructions about fraud, and the Federal convictions, because the jury may have heard too much negative publicity about Keating during the state trial, which clouded their judgment. McCain has got a lt of nerve bringing up the issue of politicians corrupted by contributors.

Posted by PseudoCyAnts in reply to a comment from dickday
March 10, 2009 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
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PCA, jesus. blesses himself. Sometimes I feel you are one of five carrying all the weight. Good job.
I am bookmarking this for the blog and your comment. Everytime some sob starts telling me about pork I will shove it right up his...

Posted by dickday in reply to a comment from PseudoCyAnts
March 11, 2009 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Having worked on 3 of those projects - pig odor, tattoo removal and switchgrass - I'm stunned at just HOW ignorant this man is. Hog production is a massive industry, and not only is "odor" a real health issue, it's perhaps the #1 barrier to that industry's expansion plans. I thought the GOP wanted that kind of thing? Tattoo removal is absolutely critical if gang members are to move into the mainstream labor force, and the sooner they're removed, the easier it gets. I thought the GOP WANTED less crime? And switchgrass, if developed further, offers the chance for tens of millions of families to shift off using oil for heat, and onto a local, renewable-grown energy source - with additional income for farmers.

What amazes me is that while it may whoop up an average Rush-backer - it will read to those who KNOW these industries as mind-boggling ignorance. And a lot of those will be people who backed the GOP - e.g. in rural areas. I mean, if they don't understand hogs and grass, what the hell DO they understand?

The Democrats should take each of these micro-mockeries, and ENSURE they are widely-publicized amongst those particular groups. Hit those niches and show just what an idiot McCain and company are. Good God.

Posted by quinn esq
March 10, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Here's McCain, "Oh yeah, and having properly inflated tires is going to save gas?!? Is that the next study?!?"

Well, Johnnie-Boy, that study has been done and it does.

The truth of the matter is that when gas escalated its price quickly and significantly, people reigned in their consumption and the oil companies panicked! Now they know they need to heat the water slowly to boil the frogs. Hopefully, but doubtfully, we will get out of the fossil-fuel we've been swimming in before we overheat. I know I'm doing my best to climb out. I don't care if the oil is foreign or domestic, I want as little to do with their organized crime syndicate as possible.

Posted by GregorZap in reply to a comment from quinn esq
March 11, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Even 65 of the porkiest pork projects McCain could find, combined, amount to less than just one singular $60 million pork project of his own back in 2000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-rabin-havt/john-mccains-60-million-i_b_106362.html

Posted by tpmgary
March 10, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
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That $1.7 million (you're not rich, swineherd, less than 5) is huge compared to McCain's defense crowd, huh? Barely buys a prop trainer, or an APC.

I like the catfish genetics, Alabama hoping to level the playing field against that economic colossus, Louisiana.

I think McCain hates having check through bills, he wants them simple so he can scowl without having to do homework.

Posted by Tom Wright
March 10, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
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...you twit, twat you mean, ask Sen McCain....

He wants to stay relevant since he lost the election and wants to be the R's answer to Teddy Kennedy in the history books.

Posted by reset
March 10, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
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OK. I have a question. What makes an "earmark" and earmark? Is it because it stands amid a bunch of essential budgetary needs and there is no justification for it in a given bill? Is it because it has to go along with an unrelated bill in order to get passed?

I agree that the overwhelming majority of the spending that you have outlined are completely reasonable -- no -- important, and help our country stimulate its economy.

Maybe the whole issue is just simply the add-on quality of this. How about if each "ear-mark -- er project" had to be individually defended? Would that make it more palatable? Is the Congress so busy that it cannot listen to justifications for multi-million-dollar spending? I mean these are people who consider a 4-day work-week onerous.

OK! Get rid of ear-marks! Each bill should have only one subject! Each spending request should be justified individually. Vote up or down! Now, would the out-of-power party be in favor of that? I don't think so, because they know they would totally screw over Democrats if repubs were in power, and they don't expect to be in power any time soon.

So, the question of "ear marks" grows. Either we figure out a way to expunge the wrong ones, or we have to get rid of them altogether. There is no middle ground, unless you consider the republican spending spree a middle ground.

Posted by CVille Dem
March 10, 2009 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
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an earmark is supposed to be funding for a project within the politician's home district, which is not exactly germane to the bill it was inserted into.

the whole issue about earmarks is a sham, because even if all earmarks were to be eliminated, it still would not significantly decrease Government spending.

Posted by PseudoCyAnts in reply to a comment from CVille Dem
March 10, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
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the media keeps reporting McCain's examples as all being earmarks, but i don't think that they all are. What is really hypocritical is that many Republicans have inserted their own earmarks into the stimulus bills, even though they will vote against the, because they know they are going to get passed, and they want to bring the bacon back home too.

Ron Paul is notorious about that con game
.

Posted by PseudoCyAnts in reply to a comment from PseudoCyAnts
March 10, 2009 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Yes to all.

Posted by Tom Wright in reply to a comment from PseudoCyAnts
March 10, 2009 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
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And YES again!

Posted by GregorZap in reply to a comment from Tom Wright
March 11, 2009 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Its sad really, a honored war hero so angry at his loss that he is reduced to such pettiness. I mean he is tweeting? Tweeting. even the sound of the word makes him sound like a pathetic whiner.

Posted by Saladin
March 11, 2009 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
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All of these relatively insignificant amounts of money painstakingly detailed and tweeted by the man who couldn't remember how many houses he had?

In the run-up to that hotly contested election for RNC chair, the technological geniuses running for the office participated in a debate that among other things, brought up the subject of appealing to young people. Leaving aside the dubious appeal of "Barack, the Magic Negro", the then current chair offered this gem:

"We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today."

He lost. So did McCain. TwoBad.


Posted by seashell
March 11, 2009 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
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I thought McCain was tweeting before he got a blackberry.

Posted by bluesplashy
March 11, 2009 7:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Yez, 2bad. There is a resemblence to tweety, fer shore.

Posted by Bwakfat in reply to a comment from bluesplashy
March 11, 2009 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Why is no one asking McCain how come he hasn't led the Senate GOP to not include earmarks? Why is he criticizing Obama as President about actions taken within the Senate? Maybe, McCain should first have to lead his Republican senators on earmarks before being given credibility to criticize Democrats or Obama.

Also, I don't recall the media covering every utterance by Gore or Kerry after losing.

Posted by new10
March 11, 2009 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Great points!

Posted by GregorZap in reply to a comment from new10
March 11, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Frankly, the mere fact these representatives were twittering is embarassing. It's shameful. It's beneath the honor of their legislative body. They should all be cited for contempt of Congress, IMHO.

Posted by GregorZap
March 12, 2009 1:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
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updater comment

Posted by PseudoCyAnts
November 21, 2009 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
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He's updating.

better than downdating

Posted by Bwakfat in reply to a comment from PseudoCyAnts
November 21, 2009 8:42 PM | Reply | Permalink

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