Having Your Pork and Eating It, Too

(Chuck Muth) – The national GOP is mucking up Nevada’s GOP political messaging by sending out confusing mixed messages to the electorate.

For the record, the Republican position is *supposed* to be that the job of Members of Congress is NOT to bring home the bacon or the pork; that out-of-control federal spending, especially in areas rightfully belonging to the states, is wrong and harmful to both the state and national economies.

And yet, the Republican National Committee’s spokesperson, Jahan Wilcox, on loan to the Nevada GOP for the duration of this campaign season, issued an email statement on Wednesday complaining that Harry Reid hasn’t brought home enough bacon and pork to Nevada. The headlines in the email included….

• “Las Vegas Shortchanged In Federal Funding For Homeless”
• “Nevada Strikes Out On Additional Federal Funding For Schools”
• “Nevada Ranks 46th In Stimulus Benefits”
• “Nevada Is Dead Last in Per-Capita Federal Funding”

The release quotes the Las Vegas Sun in complaining that “Southern Nevada has 2 percent of the country’s homeless, but gets just 0.4 percent of $1.7 billion in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.” It also complains that “Nevada was not among 19 semifinalists (for Race to the Top federal education grants) and will not get the $175 million for which the state was eligible.”

Wilcox also cites a USA Today story which reported that “Nevada has the nation’s worst unemployment — 14.2% — but ranks 46th in stimulus benefits,” as well as another Las Vegas Sun story about how “Nevada is dead last in per-capita federal funding for state programs such as health, education and transportation.”

“Senator Harry Reid loves to tell Nevadans that ‘nobody can do more,’ but when it comes to securing federal support nobody has done less for his home state,” concludes Wilcox. “Nevada consistently misses out or ranks near the bottom in federal funding. Sen. Reid likes to take credit for saving CityCenter, but he is helpless when it comes to ensuring the Silver State receives its fair share of federal dollars.”

This is known as trying to have your cake and eat it, too. Republicans can’t complain about pork politics on one hand (the right one) and then complain that the Democrat isn’t brining home enough bacon on the other hand (the left one).

That’s world-class hypocrisy.

Is Harry Reid a Pork Barrel King or isn’t he? And if he is, is that a good thing or a bad thing? To listen to the Republican spin doctors, Nevada voters have, well, pretty much no idea. Somebody at GOP Central better get a handle on messaging and fast…and make sure everybody at both the state and national levels are on the same page.