Let the Caveats Begin

John McCain is backtracking on his tough talk over earmarks, first ensuring that Israel (which has a GDP per capita of $28,000...just under Great Britain) will continue to get their slice of the pie, and now he is saying that impoverished communities will still get to put their hand in the cookie jar.

This is the problem with the tough talk on earmarks...you can try and lump them all in with the "Bridge to Nowhere" or studying Bear DNA, but when you start going line item by line item, there are a lot of worthy projects and expenditures under the earmark umbrella.

McCain's view of the budget, economy, and world is simplistic to a great fault...perhaps not too simplistic for the general public, but in terms of governing reality, his approach just simply won't hold up under any serious scrutiny.

The important thing to do, with regards to earmarks, is to increase transparency so we know who is doing the asking, and who is doing the taking.