[dragonwriter]

> The $100,000 may well have been a small fraction of what was actually spent, but until we have proof the outrage needs to be kept down

The outrage isn't about the amount spent, so why should it be kept down absent evidence of greater amount spent.

> We're in real danger of revisiting yellow journalism and creating an even more polarizing political situation.

I see no evidence of the former (at least not on this subject, though I think there are structural reasons to think that that's unlikely to be a useful reference point more generally), and don't see avoiding polarization at all costs as a goal.