Joe Klein: 'Bring Back Earmarks!'

America has created almost six trillion dollars in new debt in the past four years and Time magazine's Joe Klein wants to "bring back earmarks."

On ABC's This Week Sunday, Klein also said, "I think John McCain did a tremendous disservice to this country by making such a huge campaign about earmarks" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: But also, I think that the ultimate message of that wonderful movie ["Lincoln"], I thought that it was an act of patriotism on Spielberg’s part to make it in that way. The ultimate message is bring back earmarks!

GEORGE STEPHANOPOLOUS: So they can buy off…

KLEIN: Of course. Earmarks have always been the grease, you know, that greases the wheels that gets things done. I think John McCain did a tremendous disservice to this country by making such a huge campaign about earmarks when there are far bigger and more important targets to be met on deficit reduction.

This is almost like commercials promoting sales that claim "The more you spend, the more you save."

Beyond the waste of money, what the left routinely misses about earmarks is that they encourage members of Congress to vote for bad bills in order to get goodies for their districts or states.

Consider the payoffs to Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson - Democrats both - that resulted in them supporting ObamaCare.

Without the "Louisiana Purchase" and "Cornhusker Kickback" this dreadful piece of legislation never would have passed.

Yet this is the kind of "grease" Klein likes.

I guess grease really IS the word...have you heard?