Cathy McMorris Rodgers may be…

"...simply the next lawmaker hypocritically trying to 'trash and cash'" the stimulus bill to Think Progress, but she's also my mom's own personal congresscritter, so when she's lying to her constituents, well, it gets personal...

Yesterday, GOP.gov, the official website for the House Republican caucus, continued the anti-stimulus drumbeat, blaring press releases calling the stimulus a failure. Ironically, posted just above two releases attacking the stimulus, the website features a release from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) taking credit for $35 million dollars in stimulus highway money...

...The $35 million in TIGER highway funds were provided by the stimulus McMorris Rodgers tried to kill. McMorris Rodger’s press release, however, claims she was a “champion” in gaining the funding.

The real champions of the folks in WA-5, of course, were the Democratic leadership and our Democratic delegation in DC who saw to it that the needs of the folks across the Cascade Curtain were tended to while McMorris Rodgers was busy representing the ideological interests of the Republican leadership instead of the real needs of the people of eastern Washington.

There's a part of me that thinks it's high time that every constituent of every Republican member of Congress was cut off from federal disbursements their Rep voted against until they get fed up or starved out and send us a better Congress.

Then I remember I'm talking about Mom, and Sis, and my nieces and great-neices, and I'm more inclined to applaud the generous hearts of our Democratic Congress. Enjoy the jobs and new roads, folks, but don't let McMorris Rodgers take even a bit of credit.

Today on the intertubes…

PolitickerWA has profiles of George Fearing, challenging Doc Hastings in WA-4 and Dr. Mark Mays, who's running against Cathy McMorris-Rogers in WA-5. Fearing, one of the original eight co-sponsors of the Darcy Burner inspired Responsible Plan, hit his $100K fundraising target on schedule last month. Mays is a first time candidate but hardly a newcomer to Democratic politics in eastern Washington.

These may seem like long shot races, but the last time the political climate was this favorable to Democrats, we ended up with both seats. Sounds like we've got candidates both eager and able to complete the hat trick with Darcy and take 'em back for a clean sweep in November.