An important thing to note about John McCain

During the final month of the presidential campaign, its going to be very challenging for the average American to sift through the mud that is sure to come from either side.

And with McCain behind in the polls, I expect we will see even more mud-slinging and attack ads from his camp.

As most of us know, its very hard, if not impossible to get a true sense of what a candidate will do once they actually end up in the oval office.

For those of you who recall Bush's 2000 campaign, you know that he has clearly drifted from the promises he made before taking office. Some might say that 9/11 changed things, and that may be true, but ultimately, very few of us got what we expected from our 43rd president.

With that in mind, I would like to revisit a direct quote from John McCain's acceptance speech, at the recent Republican National Convention.

---

"I've fought the big spenders...

(APPLAUSE)

I've fought the big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on

things you neither need nor want, and the first big-spending

pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it. I

will make them famous, and you will know their names. You will know

their names.

---

Now the above statement is something most of us, as Americans can get on board with, as its one of those bi-partisan issues that most of us agree could use some work.

It basically means that if any member of Congress tries to add a multi-million dollar sweetener, or "pork" to a piece of multi-part legislation, he will veto the entire bill, no questions asked.

The Alaskan "Bridge to No Where" is a great example of this. Basically a several hundred million dollar transportation bridge, paid for by the federal government, and the taxes of all American's across the country, which would only benefit a few thousand locals in Alaska.

Not only does McCain promise to swiftly brandish the veto pen in all circumstances like these, he also promises to effectively embarrass the congressman or congresswoman who tried to sneak the ear-mark onto the bill, so the whole country will know exactly who is trying to horde federal taxpayer funds, for the good of their own constituency.

Here's the problem :

The recent financial rescue bill, which passed congress this past week, and was signed by President Bush, contained approximately $140 billion in so-called pork sweeteners, in order to create a bill that would stand a better chance of passing congress than the earlier version of the bill which failed to pass earlier in the week.

So basically a staggering $700 billion rescue bill, was forced to increase in size by 20% in ear-marks, in order to convince a few corrupt politicians to vote for a bill they didn't believe in, in the first place...

Here are a just a few nauseating examples of some of the ear-mark additions to the most recent financial bailout bill :


-- millions of pork for Hollywood producers

-- millions more for stockcar race track owners

-- more than $192 million for Caribbean rum producers

-- over $200 million for Alaskan fisherman

So given the facts of the bill, one would assume that the Maverick, John McCain, would stand by his promise, and while unable to veto the bill (since that is a power of only the American president), would at least vote against the bill, showing his disgust for its wasteful contents, and maybe even have a press conference to let us all know which members congress changed their votes thanks to these additions.

As most of you already know... McCain voted yes on the piece of legislation, effectively going against his promise and stance on earmark spending.

So much for the Straight-Talk Express, so much for sticking to your guns, and so much for leaving with any hope that you are full of anything but empty promises, and sound-bytes.

...as you were