Today we found another example of lying on the left and we were ready to pounce. One of the things that this blog prides itself on is consistency and truthfulness.
You don't see the folks like Media Matters challenging much of what we say. In part, that is because we almost always provide links in support of our comments, and folks who follow those links discover that we don't distort the original writer's views, though we may challenge them.
Not long ago, we were at a gathering where a newsman publicly commented on media matters without mentioning them by name. He joked about their paranoia that there were conservatives and conservative thought throughout the media. If we don't read too much into what was said, we think he was saying that what media matters writes is taken with a giant grain of salt by the media.
We might add that if you want to discover what today's liberal lie is, you need not go much farther than media matters.
We would prefer that all conservative blogs be consistent and not try to distort the truth. That doesn't always happen, and the exceptions to that standard hurts all conservative bloggers. Today, Rossputin, who admits he has a hate on for Doug Lamborn, and is a Jeff Crank supporter, wrote a nice little deceptive essay called Lamborn gets earmark for contributor. It begins:
The Denver Post reported last week (11/19/07) that Congressman Doug Lamborn got a $1 million earmark for Sturman Industries, a private company in Woodland Park, Colorado, whose chairwoman, Carol Sturman, contributed to Lamborn's 2008 primary campaign fund. (Click HERE to see FEC filing document.)
Even Doug Lamborn is probably not stupid enough to let a $250 contribution cause him to wrangle $1,000,000 out of taxpayers (apparently it was reduced to $800,000 in conference). But he should also have been smart enough to refuse that contribution because of the obvious appearance of a conflict.
A quick trip to Rossputin's Denver Post link reveals information that he chose to conceal to promote his deception:
Lamborn asked for the money in March. In July, the president of Sturman Industries, Carol Sturman, made a $250 contribution to Lamborn's re-election campaign...
Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., supported the Sturman Industries earmark in the House. He did not receive any campaign contributions from the company.
Neither of those are unimportant facts, and Rossputin had access to both.
Not long ago, the Rocky Mountain News wrote a blistering editorial noting that PlagiarismNowAction, err ProgressNowAction had deceptively attacked the presumptive Republican nominee for US Senate in the same way without revealing the timing of the contribution or providing any proof that it was a bribe.
The earmark process is not totally evil, especially when two congressmen from different parties, and indeed, from significantly different parts of the political spectrum support the same earmark. Some small scale actions by Congress couldn't be accomplished efficiently any other way. Earmarks are out of hand, but the number shouldn't go to zero. Let's apply common sense.
Rossputin next observes:
What sort of fiscal conservative thinks it's OK to transfer money from taxpayers to private business? What sort of congressman thinks that doing so and taking a campaign contribution from that business won't be viewed with suspicion of the politician's integrity, intellect, or both? I guess the answer is "a congressman like Doug Lamborn".
Well, it turns out that Rossputin thinks it is OK, and on a very grand scale. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars a year, perhaps billions a year.
You see, Rossputin has decided that it is in the public interest for Congress to promote renewable energy through tax credits. Recall that tax credits only go to profitable companies, with the operative word being "companies." It's not a subsidy, or so he rationalizes, but it looks like a subsidy to us. Worse, it can only help the beomouths who have other profitable businesses, like GE. A startup or small company is out in the cold.
He was euphoric in the same essay that the stocks in that industry had climbed over 30% in a month. That was at the same time that two industry lobbyists were admitting that without government subsidies, their industry would "implode." Yes, the stock prices went up, not because the industries are self sustaining, but because investors are realizing how much government money the left is willing to pump into that sector (and how little resistance they will get from the right).
What is really funny is that the earmark appears to be an effort to both improve fuel efficiency and cut pollution, which might have Rossputin's support, at least for tax credits, if only Doug Lamborn were not involved.
Rossputin claims to be a rational thinker. We would be satisfied if he were just a consistent thinker. When he writes obviously deceptive essays, even when he is not intent on damaging a Republican, he damages the rest of us. Our moral high ground gets lowered.
