Once again, the AP chooses to point fingers at Republicans whenever possible and conveniently forget that Democrats are even worse. Today's case in point is an article about the Democrats effort to cover unfinished spending bills that were left by the departing Republican leaders. As part of this process, they will be removing billions of dollars in earmarks that were attached to different bills. In the process of explaining the situation, they get it some shots at Republicans.

The plan by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees would kill thousands of hometown projects, called "earmarks," that lawmakers add to spending bills. Staying within President Bush's thrifty budgets for domestic agencies like the Agriculture and Education departments is part of their proposal.

"There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said Monday in a statement announcing their plans, which were endorsed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Although critics call hometown projects "pork," their sponsors claim that, as elected representatives, they know more about the needs of people in their states than the president and government bureaucrats. Projects they often want funded range from road, bridge and flood-control construction to economic development. Beneficiaries include local governments, hospitals and universities.

Such projects exploded in number under GOP control of Congress over the last 12 years. At the same time they spawned a boom on Washington's K Street lobbying corridor, where consultants earn big fees by helping outsiders navigate the system.

However, what the AP conveniently forgets to mention is that the King of Pork is a Democrat, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. The NY Times even went so far as to write an extensive article on Murtha's earmarking power, "Trading Pork For Votes Across the Aisle":

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — For more than a decade, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania has operated a political trading post in a back corner of the House of Representatives.

A gang of about two dozen Democrats mill around his seat. A procession of others walk back to request pet spending projects, known as earmarks. And Republicans come by, asking him to enlist some of those Democrats to join them on close votes. “Whether they get what they want in the bill or they get the votes they are looking for, nobody ever leaves completely disappointed,” said Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat often found in what is known as the Murtha corner.

Outside Washington, Mr. Murtha, a Vietnam veteran and longtime hawk, may be best known for his break with the president over the Iraq war last fall. But inside the Capitol, he is best known for turning earmarks into power. As the top Democrat on the House military spending subcommittee, he often delivers Democratic votes to Republican leaders in a tacit exchange for earmarks for himself and his allies.

In one case that particularly irked Democratic partisans, Mr. Murtha led three others in voting against a politically vulnerable Louisiana Democrat’s proposal to divert money intended to be spent on base closings to research prosthetic limbs for veterans. It failed by one vote.

For their “nays” on that and other matters, all four Democrats were rewarded. In the weeks after the vote, they claimed credit for a total of more than $250 million in earmarks in the 2006 appropriations bills. Mr. Murtha alone brought home about $80 million for his district and $120 million for his state, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks such projects

The article goes on to detail how Murtha gained his power for pork under Tip O'Neil and somehow never lost it even when Republicans took over Congress in 1994.

Any guesses on how much play the MSM would give his pork history and prowess if he was a Republican?