Congresswoman Jean Schmidt's call for a Line Item Veto would mean more if she 'vetoed' spending with her own votes

While Jean Schmidt's support of a Line Item Veto is encouraging, it leads one to wonder why she voted against amendments that would have eliminated specific wasteful spending (see: CCAGW Applauds Flake Earmark Amendments; Congresswoman Schmidt votes against them and Congresswoman Schmidt is not walking the walk of her fiscal conservative talk) when she was given specific opportunities to do so.

The "I can't stop myself from spending, so I'll let the President do the right thing for me" canard many politicians offer their constituents is not going to cut it in an environment where votes are so easily researched and contrasted against a representative's own statements of fiscal conservatism.