Dick Lugar: Big Spender

It is no secret that there is no love lost between Indiana Senator Dick Lugar and the Tea Party. Along with his colleagues Olympia Snowe and Orrin Hatch, Lugar represents one of the top Republican Senate primary targets for the Tea Party. But unlike Snowe and Hatch, Lugar has chosen to take a confrontational approach to this element of his party. Regarding the START Treaty, he told Tea Partiers to “get real,” and his spokesman has said that they “reject the premise” that conservative must “kowtow to the Tea Party.”

Explaining his distaste for the Tea Party, Lugar told reporters in January that Tea Party supporters are motivated by anger, complaining “we want this or that stopped or there is spending, big government—these are all, we would say, sort of large cliché titles, but they are not able to articulate all the specifics.”

If Lugar is concerned that Tea Party is having trouble articulating specific spending or “big government” policies, perhaps he will offer up cuts to the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies. But, this is unlikely because a close look at Lugar’s record, shows he is a big fan of government spending.

As a look at his record shows, Lugar is a big spender, after the jump.

Plain Dealer: GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Kevin Coughlin Calls Global Warming Science 'Sketchy'

On August 22, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:

A Democratic super PAC called American Bridge 21st Century sent a videographer to an Aug. 18 appearance that Coughlin made before a Strongsville tea party group called Strong Ohio. It filmed Coughlin calling the science behind global warming "sketchy," and rhetorically declaring: "I would ask the people in Pompeii who are frozen like this if an act of Congress could change their situation."

PolitiFact Virginia: Allen says he reined in state spending as governor

On August 22, 2011 PolitiFact Virginia reported:   Republican George Allen is promising his unrelenting effort to curb federal spending…

Rick Perry Compares Civil Rights Movement To Lower Taxes And Deregulation

At an August 20, 2011 meet and greet at the Old Town Bistro in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Gov. Rick Perry seemingly likened the struggles of the civil rights movement to fighting for lower taxes and deregulation. As AMERICAblog's Kombiz Lavasany wrote, "The statement is historically inaccurate, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for unions and regulations."

Think Progress: Olympia Snowe Urges Constituents To Thank Court For Ruling Against The Individual Mandate She Voted For

On August 22, 2011, Think Progress wrote: Politico’s Pulse reports that Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) “is inviting people to…

MEMO: Rick Perry: The Great Campaigner?

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry burst onto the GOP Presidential scene, managing to step all over the Ames straw poll by making his official announcement the same day.

By waiting until after the straw poll to enter the race, Perry avoided answering the tough questions that voters care about. Rather than use his first week in the race to show Americans where he stands on today's most pressing issues, he upstaged himself with a series of gaffes and extreme statements, revealing that he's just not ready for prime time.

Washington Post: Bachmann On Why She Worked For IRS: "First Rule Of War Is 'Know Your Enemy'"

On August 18, 2011, the Washington Post reported:

"This is fun. Michele Bachmann, on the campaign trail today, offered what seems to be a new explanation for her previous work as a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service, something that has drawn some ire from the right. Her explanation: She worked for the IRS as a kind of secret anti-tax mole whose mission was to get to know the place in order to better undermine it later. As she put it: “The first rule of war is `know your enemy.’” This explanation seems a bit at odds with descriptions of the episode she’s given on previous occasions, when she’s said her anti-tax fervor was the result of her work for the IRS. This version on the trail explains her work for the IRS — which spanned four years, from 1988-1992 — in a way that will be more acceptable to hard-core anti-tax conservatives." BACHMANN: “We change the economy by changing the tax code. How many of you love the IRS? No! It’s time to change it. I went to work in that system because the first rule of war is ‘know your enemy.’ So I went to the inside to learn how they work because I wanted to beat them.”

RELEASE: American Bridge 21st Century Hires Matt Thornton & Ike Blake

WASHINGTON -- American Bridge 21st Century President Rodell Mollineau today announced the hires of Matt Thornton and Ike Blake to serve as senior communications adviser and director of media production, respectively. “I’m thrilled to add two all stars like Matt and Ike to the American Bridge team,” Mollineau said. “With Matt’s communications skills and Ike’s technical and creative abilities, American Bridge will be even better equipped to shape the political debate and hold Republicans accountable.” Thornton, who started this week, most recently served as communications director for Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). He previously served as the communications director for former Congressman Zack Space (D-OH), and he has worked on campaigns in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and West Virginia. A Kansas native, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

WSJ: GOP Candidates: Too Many Americans Pay No Taxes

On August 17, 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported:

"A new orthodoxy has emerged in recent days on taxes: Not enough people are paying them.

[...]

And Democrats are starting to take notice.

“Republicans are falling over themselves to protect millionaires and billionaires, and now it is clear that their presidential front runners are eager to raise revenue by taxing those who are struggling day in and day out to make ends meet,” said Ty Matsdorf of American Bridge 21^st Century, a new Democratic independent expenditures group tracking the GOP candidates."

Rick Perry Accuses Scientists Of Manipulating Climate Data

On August 17, 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called climate change "a scientific theory that has not been proven," and accused scientists of manipulating the data in order to secure funding:

PERRY: "You may have a point there because, I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data, so that they will have dollars rolling into their, to their projects. I think we're seeing almost weekly or even daily scientists who are coming forward and questioning, the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change. Yes, our climate's changed, it's been changing for ever-ever since the earth was formed, but I do not buy into that uh, a group of scientists, who have in some cases found to be manipulating this information and the cost to the country and to the world of implementing these uh, uh anti-carbon programs is in the billions if not trillions of dollars at the end of the, of the day, and I don't think from my perspective I want America to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven, and from my perspective is more and more being put into question."