Spending cuts are for other people

In light of Rmoney's tone deaf response to yesterday's media manufactured Obama "gaffe," Digby takes a little stroll down memory lane and recalls when the Governator attacked public employees as special interests. She makes a good point, but I found this bit at the end about the state of fiscal conservatism even more interesting:

Members of the House of Representatives voted Friday to protect their own office expense accounts from budget cuts.

The bipartisan 307-102 vote came on a $3.3 billion measure funding congressional operations.

Republicans controlling the House have been trying to cut domestic agency budgets by about 5 percent. But when it came to their own staff, travel and office expenses, GOP leaders opted to freeze their $574 million budget after two years of cuts.

The funding bill includes a 1 percent cut that comes chiefly from cutting back on repairs to the iconic Capitol dome, which dates to the Civil War.

After passing the measure, lawmakers immediately left Washington for a weeklong vacation.

It's the entrenched establishment politico's creed: Suffering for thee, but not for me.

They pay no price for it. It goes practically unnoticed because the establishment media would rather invent a fauxtroversy to fit the horserace narrative than report Congressional hypocrisy. Besides, big media won't pump up a story like this because they don't want to risk their access or their place on the cocktail party circuit.

The depressing thing is, I don't see a way to change that dynamic. Media doesn't pay a price for this crap either. In fact, they get rewarded for it too. It's enough to drive you to drink. [graphic via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]