In New Hampshire, Republicans will go to the polls today to select the nominee for the Senate seat vacated by Judd Gregg, who will retire this year.  A few voters may wonder whether Paul Hodes has tossed his hat into the ring for the GOP after watching his latest ad, “Hot Dog,” in which he poses as a fiscal conservative.  As the axiom states, “Those who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either being made,” and Hodes does his best to play the role of Congressional hot dog without ever letting voters know that he has been one of the sausage makers of Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic caucus:

Notice which word never gets mentioned in this spot? “Democrat.” Hodes wants to demonstrate “how they spend money in Washington” without ever acknowledging that Hodes himself as been in the Beltway for almost four years — and has voted in support of Nancy Pelosi’s agenda all along. Hodes voted in favor of the FY2010 budget, for instance, that represented a 38% increase in annual spending from FY2007, the final Republican Congress budget, and which added $1.1 trillion to the budget during that period. Hodes also voted for Porkulus, at least in committee.

But that’s hardly the end of the dishonesty.  Hodes claims to refuse earmarks.  According to Citizens Against Government Waste, that’s flat-out false.  Hodes took 28 earmarks in 2010 for a total of $51 million; he took 29 in 2009 for a total of $33.6 million; and in 2008, he took 35 earmarks for a total of $35.5 million.  Maybe Hodes thinks he can make that claim because he didn’t take any in FY2011, but there’s a reason for that — the Democrats have failed to even start the budget process for FY2011, which starts in seventeen days.

Hodes also claims to have voted against the bailouts, but that’s something less than a half-truth.  He may have voted against TARP, but he did vote for transferring TARP money to the auto bailout, which he even announced in December 2008.  He also voted for the $14 billion “loan” to auto companies.  Hodes voted to bail out Fannie and Freddie, too.

Finally, while the employment situation melted down around us, Hodes was backing ObamaCare and cap-and-trade.  Those are not only the opposite of fiscal conservatism, they are also evidence that Hodes is out of touch and deaf to the concerns of his constituents.  Hodes is no hot dog; he’s a sausage carrier for Nancy Pelosi, and this pose is as authentic as a tofu frank.