Check out this obviously uncomfortable exchange between Jim Tedisco, the Republican candidate in tomorrow’s special election for Kirsten Gillibrand’s old House seat, and a reporter from this past Thursday night. Tedisco tried to deny that he’d referred to the stimulus bill as pork — even though he and his campaign have done so on multiple occasions.
Tedisco was asked about two things, essentially — characterizing the stimulus bill as containing $300 billion in pork or wasteful spending, and his attack that Dem candidate Scott Murphy should have read the whole bill due to the AIG bonus flap:
For the record, a Google search shows Tedisco or his campaign spokesman being directly quoted using the word “pork” here and here. Indeed, before he had officially announced his opposition to the bill, he had been referring to aspects of it as “Washington-style, Mickey-Mouse pork barrel politics at its worst,” in this press release on his campaign’s Web site.
Check out the relevant transcript, after the jump.
Reporter: Speaking of answering questions, your opponent’s asked you several times for you to identify all that $300 billion that you’re talking about, as pork or unnecessary wasteful spending. The Associated Press has also asked for a breakdown of what that is. Since you’ve read the whole bill, why haven’t you provided us with that yet? We’d like to see that breakdown, of what all that is.
Tedisco: Well we gave five or six examples.
Reporter: That adds up to in the millions – we’re talking about $300 billion.
Tedisco: Well you have a copy of the bill, don’t you?
Reporter: Yes, but I’m not asking what I would consider pork. I’m asking what you would consider pork. And I’m trying to understand what you consider wasteful.
Tedisco: Well first of all, have you ever heard me use the term “pork”?
Reporter: I have.
Tedisco: When?
Reporter: Uh, several occasions. I’ve been — I’ve been covering this campaign for a while.
