Romney Campaign Dubs Stimulus 'Mother of all Earmarks' The Romney campaign's strategy-of-the-week is to question the president's motives for passing the stimulus. "Were these investments the best return on tax dollars, or given for ideological reasons, to donors, for political reasons?" an aide asked Politico before dubbing the stimulus "the mother of all earmarks." I have three points to make. First, Politico points out that the Romney team is issuing press releases and holding events on this theme while American Crossroads, a super PAC, is rolling out ads on the same subject. It's not a coordinated plan, because that would be illegal. American Crossroads is totally independent, just like Bulgaria was totally independent from the Soviet Union. Second, the now-common right-wing conflation of earmarks with waste is getting annoying. Sure, some earmarks are ridiculous, like the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska. But it's often reasonable for lawmakers to secure federal dollars for specific local projects. It all depends on the worthiness of the venture in question. Third, Republicans love earmarks about as much as they love to complain about earmarks. Just hours after voting against the stimulus, for example, Republican Representative John Mica of Florida sent out press releases lauding the designation of $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, including one in Florida. "I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," he said. In 2011, Republicans in the House loaded the military budget with earmarks, despite a supposed ban imposed by their leaders. And freshman Republicans backed by the Tea Party are trying to get their own local projects approved by Congress. Politico reported this month that Rep. Michael Grimm of New York wants money to revamp a commuter bridge. Another New Yorker, Ann Marie Buerkle is pushing a road project for the Syracuse area, and Allen West of Florida wants $21 million to add a runway to the Fort Lauderdale airport. That's not a huge sum, but that's just another flaw in the anti-earmark argument. If you get rid of all the earmarks - every one - you'll barely make a dent in the budget deficit.