Kissing Ears

A brief followup to last night's discussion of the Coburn amendment. There is a very good synopsis of the day's events in the WaPo this morning by Shailagh Murray, outlining what the amendments would have done, the grassroots support that sprang up in support of them, and the response from the pork-addicted Senators who voted to leave the money in Alaska.

Murray gets the money-quote from Rep. Don Young, Alaska's congressman and the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ... the one who stuck lines into the bill to fund the constructions of the bridge named "Don Young's Way" and the "Bridge to Nowhere."

Asked by an Alaska reporter what he thought of the public groundswell in support of diverting the money from Alaska to Louisiana, Young replied "They can kiss my ear! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

I've heard many dumb things in my life. Like, for instance, naming a bridge after yourself.

Spending money to repair a bridge (one that even gets used!) that was destroyed by a hurricane? That doesn't seem very dumb to me at all. Mr. Young, you'd better hope all the people around the country who are fed up with the politics of pork and are sick of being spent into fiscal oblivion by this reckless Congress and this veto-fearing president don't decide to take you up on your offer ... or you might end up with a very, very sore ear indeed.