Artsy

Current funding level for the National Endowment of the Arts: $146 Million

Amount spent so far on TV ads for the presidential election: $512 Million

One of these things is more useful than the other. Deciding which one is an exercise left to the reader.

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Shouldn’t Have Hired That Magician

Well, damn, that never happens. I just agreed with something Tom Coburn said:

Coburn, who has been a fierce critic of convention boondoggles run by federal agencies, made his case in a letter to both the Democratic and Republican parties, saying that with politicians lambasting such excess, the two parties should return the $17.7 million that each have already gotten from the U.S. Treasury.

Thank you! If were going to flip shit about the GSA blowing $800,000 on a convention, shouldn’t we be flipping about 44 times more shit about the parties doing it?

But the best part is the RNC response (emphasis mine):

Kirsten Kukowski, spokeswoman for the RNC, responded: “Conventions serve an important role in the process of nominating candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. If Sen. Coburn has ideas on how to overhaul campaign finance laws that will provide political parties with viable alternative funding sources or on the funding for future conventions, he should address them through the legislative process.”

Heh, really, republicans suddenly can’t figure out how to fund raise? The same guys that had a massive collective freakout today over some guy wanting to spend 10 million for his Super PAC to run ads about Jeremiah Wright (remember him)? Yes where ever could they find the money?

Spineless as always, of course, the democrats said basically the same thing as the Rs. This would have been a nice opportunity for them to take the mantle as the “fiscally responsible” ones and beat the GOP at its own game. Ah well, next time.

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