Kay reamed by Houston Chronicle over pork hypocrisy.

On both right-wing and left-wing blogs in the past couple of weeks, Kay has been eviscerated for trying to have it both ways on pork.

On the one hand, she slipped a bunch of earmarks into the stimulus bill. She even voted for amendments adding spending to the bill. But then she voted against the overall stimulus. And then takes credit for the pork. But still says she voted against the pork. It is really pretty frustrating to try to defend that record as a Republican to my Ron Paul friends and Obama friends alike.

Well, I am not going to defend the pork doublespeak anymore, and neither is the Houston Chronicle (link). Excerpt follows:

Hutchison stood on the floor of the Senate and spoke out against the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. She advertised her opposition in a press release that bemoaned the long-term consequences of America’s irresponsible spending and soaring debt obligations.

Then, she dutifully voted against it.

But it passed anyway. And as soon as it did, Hutchison began taking credit for nearly $54 million in Houston-area pork she helped secure within the $410 billion, pork-filled bill she’d condemned.

One after another, eight press releases were issued announcing Hutchison’s victories. To name a few: $34.4 million for the Houston Ship Channel and Houston-Galveston navigation channels; $15 million for Houston Metro; $300,000 for Houston’s Julia Ideson library; $500,000 for something called a “Virtual Space Community.”

And $2.6 million for Houston-area projects benefiting institutions such as Rice University, MD Anderson and the Harris County Hospital District.

Hutchison did offer a disclaimer explaining that, although she was “pleased that she was able to secure significant funding for many deserving projects in Texas,” she voted against the final budget because it grew more than 8 percent from the previous year and included “duplicative and unnecessary spending.”

“At a time when American families are facing tough economic decisions, she believes Congress should show spending restraint,” Hutchison’s press release stated.

So, you might say she was for it before she was against it. Or maybe for it before she was against it, before she was for it again.

Either way, it’s the kind of logic you’d get from a stuffy Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Not a potential gubernatorial contender from Texas. It’s the kind of ammunition for which her likely opponent, Gov. Rick Perry, is waiting.

Rick's people must be slapping high fives with each other this morning over this one. Kay is quickly becoming a porker (AND a flipflopper) in the public consciousness, and I am not sure that she understands how serious that problem will be for her in a Republican primary. Kay's campaign has been invaded by the Trichinella spiralis roundworm, and if they don't treat it soon, it will become full blown trichinosis.