Yesterday, I made some objections to the media coverage of the phony Wall Street bonus scandal. I noted that the average Wall Street bonus at the center of this “scandal” is equal to about one-third of what Michelle Obama was paid in her last sinecure.

Here’s something to put those numbers in perspective, brought to you by a surprisingly useful feature from the Seattle Times: a database matching congressional earmarks to campaign contributions. Nice idea, well executed.

Have a look at John Murtha’s numbers:

2008 Defense earmarks: $126,400,000
2003-08 Campaign contributions from earmark recipients: $1,641,350

So here’s the math: A $100,000 bonus on Wall Street is a scandal that inspires insipid rhetoric from the Menander-in-Chief, but sixteen times that amount in campaign contributions from the recipients of more than one thousand times that amount in earmarks is unremarkable. Remarkable.

(Thanks to Conservative Reform Network for the tip!)