Bad Day For Pork

Two of Washington’s most influential pork barrel spenders were forced to stand down from their porcine perches today – defeated Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd.

Stevens – the GOP’s undisputed Godfather of Pork – left the Senate today for the last time, having been convicted of federal corruption charges and subsequently defeated in his bid for reelection.

As the man most responsible for the $3 trillion deficit explosion that cost the GOP its majority status in the 2006 elections, Stevens got a curious pat on the back from another Republican who is leaving under a cloud of scandal, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.

“Uncle Ted, I’m going to miss you,” Craig said. “This Senate will miss you, your state will miss you and America will miss you.”

Damn, people. That’s what we call a RINO “reacharound.”

And you better believe America isn’t going to miss Ted Stevens one bit. Alaska, sure, but not the other forty-nine states.

On the other side of the aisle, 91-year-old Sen. Byrd stepped down from his position as Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, a position that either he or Stevens has held for 16 of the past 20 years.

“They don’t know how much I enjoy it,” Byrd said recently after Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named him Washington’s King of Pork.

All told, he’s brought over $3 billion in pork back to his native state- including $326 million in the 2008 budget.

Stevens bested that mark, however, bringing $380 million in pork to Alaska in this year’s budget – part of $3.4 billion in pork he secured for Alaska over the last thirteen years.

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