Convention fun--and you're paying!

The two major political parties will get $50 million each for their 2008 presidential nominating conventions. The Dems' convention, of course, will be held in Denver. The Post:

An Oklahoma senator's attempt to strip out of a war funding bill $100 million for security at the Democratic and Republican national conventions failed today.

Senators voted 45 to 51 on the amendment from Republican Sen. Tom Coburn that would have removed the funding for both the Denver and Minneapolis events.

Coburn criticized the fact that the convention spending was added to a bill that's intended to cover emergencies. Spending in an emergency funding bill is exempted from Congress' budget spending cap.

"You're going to vote to ask your grandchildren to pay for a party you're having now," Coburn said, referring to the growing national deficit.

"Members will have to make a difficult choice between booze and balloons or body armor and bullets," Coburn said.

At that moment Coburn's battery ran down and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Did you say $50 million?) shoved him aside:

Salazar defended the funding as an emergency because "the national convention is a national target for those who wish to do our nation harm," Salazar said.

Um, maybe. So what? Pay for the damn security yourselves. Better yet, why don't you just cancel? Nobody will care, except maybe the regressives at Recreate68.

Update: Since when have taxpayers funded the conventions, anyway? Man, I'm ignernt.