There's No 'Pelosi Mouse' in the Economic Stimulus Package
A Neutral Source Finds that Nancy Pelosi Did Not Seek $30 Million for Mouse Preservation
This is the finding of politifact.com, a nonpartisan arm of The St. Petersburg Times. Democrats are equally skewered from time to time on politifact.com, with its creative Truth-O-Meter feature, and so Republicans can't whine about "the mainstream liberal media" in these cases.
The economic stimulus package is ready for President Barack Obama's signature at the same time as baseball's spring training begins, and many Republicans still are swinging and missing. To play upon the famous old Cool Hand Luke movie line, what Republicans have here is a failure to investigate. And this failure to investigate for Republicans causes a failure to communicate regarding the economic stimulus package, because their credibility is squashed when wild allegations are proven untrue.
Consider the "mouse" story tied to the economic stimulus package. Republicans who made the mouse allegations against Nancy Pelosi decided to be creative. Instead of describing the economic stimulus mouse money as pork, they called it "cheese" instead.
Representative Steve King of Iowa said the alleged mouse money in the economic stimulus package was "Pelosi's pet project." Steve King even carried a sign onto the House floor stating, "Pelosi's Mouse Is Slated for $30 million."
Representative Mike Pence of Indiana quoted the economic stimulus mouse story on Fox News, unchallenged. The Drudge Report also accepted the Pelosi mouse trap at face value. Even House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio fell in place, asking how $30 million "for some salt marsh mouse in San Francisco is going to help a struggling auto worker in Ohio?"
Politico.com found that the California State Coastal Conservancy, similar to hundreds of agencies across the nation, has submitted shovel-ready project proposals to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Three projects proposed by the California State Coastal Conservancy would spend money, and create jobs, by converting abandoned industrial salt operations back into natural wetlands. The salt marsh mouse likes natural wetlands, but that's not the purpose of the proposed projects.
There will be winners and losers across the nation when the Corps of Engineers and the Oceanic/Atmospheric Administration evaluate proposals. Skeptics (and journalists) should indeed keep watch to see whether Nancy Pelosi's district might somehow win more than its fair share. However, politifact.com neutrally has determined that Nancy Pelosi is not seeking $30 million to preserve the salt marsh mouse.
Republicans have unearthed and cancelled some economic stimulus waste, such as $246 million for Hollywood movie producers. However, Republicans also have been off the mark too many times, not just in the case of the Pelosi mouse. Republicans may need to create their own version of politifact.com.
SOURCES
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/feb/13/mike-pence/no-money-stimulus-san-francisco-mice/
Published by Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson is a retired newspaper reporter who lives in Saginaw, Michigan. Main topics are political and social justice issues, with occasional escapism into sports and so forth. View profile
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3 Comments
Post a Commentlol @ leslie's comment. that is hilarious. yea, i really don't know why republicans continue to be so uptight about things. they are acting as if the election is not over. give it up already, obama won! now shut up and submit to it. all this political bull is just going to continue to divide the nation...oh yea, thats what republicans strive for...division and class separation, I forgot.
I'm with leslie on this. Just because there isn't a Pelosi mouse, does not mean that there shouldn't be. Look, they want new and creative ways to stimulate the economy -- there you go. Otherwise, this ridiculous argument against the stimulus got far too much airplay for an outright lie. Why is it that the bigger the lie, the better the publicity -- and most of it not negating the falsehood, but promoting it? What was the numbers on the last poll on Barack Obama being a Muslim? 12%? It has remained in that area in the last few polls taken. That equates to nearly 40 million people. How asinine is that? Hitler was right; tell a big enough lie; it will be believed.
What's not "stimulus" about increasing the mouse population? More exterminators would be needed, more cats which will require more cat food production, and inventors might profit by building the "better mouse trap"! In a few years when the marsh mouse population is rampant, helicopter pilots could provide aerial "mouse hunts" and Arnold (assuming he is in office) could offer rewards for the carcasses of terminated mice!