New Dem Campaign Brands Stimulus Critics as ‘Highway Hypocrites’

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) joined
others in her party in voting against the stimulus before praising
its local impact. (Photo: Seattle
Times)

As more media outlets note the phenomenon
of GOP lawmakers who voted against the Obama administration’s economic
stimulus law before seeking — and taking credit for winning — a share
of its infrastructure money, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is
seizing an opening to tag its opponents as two-faced.

The DNC launched a “Highway
Hypocrites” website today that asks voters to research whether their
local representative is among those who blasted the stimulus in
Washington before touting its value outside the Beltway.

But the system is flawed: those who provide address information to
the DNC are only told whether their member of Congress voted for or
against the stimulus, not whether they opposed it before returning home
and stumping for transportation recovery money.

The names of the Republicans who played both ends of the stimulus
debate are available in a research
report released last month by bloggers at Think Progress, an
affiliate of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.