Grand New Party

Congress: Earmarks are out, ethics reform is in—but can the GOP remake its image by November? | Mark Bergin

Associated Press/Photo by Al Grillo

During John McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention, he promised to veto the kind of me-first, country-second pork-barrel spending that many legislators have used to help keep themselves in office over the years. He vowed to make the names of such earmark gluttons famous—or infamous, as the case may be.

Debbie Joslin, president of Eagle Forum Alaska and the state's Republican national committeewoman, stood among the throng at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and watched in amazement as her fellow representatives from Alaska cheered and hollered their approval—seemingly unaware that their party's U.S. Senate nominee Ted Stevens could serve as poster boy for McCain's campaign of fury.