Capitol Hill Blue - which has as it's masthead line: "Because Nobody's Life, Liberty or Property is Safe While Congress is in Session or the White House is Occupied" - is the latest to express frustration with those freshmen Congressional Representatives they helped elect.
A May 23 post by Doug Thompson laments last year's campaign promises as "[j]ust more hypocritical political posturing." Why the negativity? Thompson's answer: "While talking the big plan to be fiscally responsible the Republican freshmen have packed a huge $553 billion spending bill with millions of pet defense projects for their home districts."
That is correct - $553 billion, most of which was for defense-related spending in the representatives' districts. This should come as a surprise to no one, and not simply because money corrupts and it does so most fiercely in the halls of Congress. This is no surprise because anyone who has been paying attention knows the Tea Party is funded primarily by individuals and corporations set to financially benefit from defense spending (for a good list of Tea Party financial backers see SourceWatch).
All of this begs two questions - did the "rank and file" Tea Party followers really think they were going to change the way the government does business? And will they turn on the GOP in 2012?
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