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You are here: Home / Take the money and run

Take the money and run

by DougJ|  February 19, 200910:09 am| 40 Comments

This post is in: Assholes

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The Politico has a big piece about the rift between relatively sane Republican governors like Charlie Crist and the whack jobs from Palinland who are pretending to oppose the stimulus for “philosophical” reasons. One is Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who apparently is “is a guy with a longstanding philosophy and ideological approach to free markets.” Apparently, though, that doesn’t mean he won’t take the money:

South Carolina’s Republican governor says his state will accept money from President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan even though he is ideologically opposed to it.

When all the games are over, this is what Sanford should actually care about:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Even before the job fair opens, the line snakes into the parking lot of the state fairground, a muted parade of lives derailed by layoffs.

“It kills me, it eats me up inside,” said Raymond Vaughn, who has been out of work for seven months, since he lost his job as a window installer. His fiancée now pays the bills. “I go into this fantasy world where I’m like, I’m in the wrong life and I’m actually a millionaire. It really bothers me I can’t do the things I’d like for her. Sometimes you get where you feel less than a man.”

[….]

In South Carolina, a government panel is predicting that the state’s unemployment rate could reach 14 percent by the middle of next year.

[….]

“This will be a once in a generation opportunity to transform a city with projects that have been on the books,” the mayor said over breakfast at a newly opened downtown Sheraton hotel set in an old bank whose original vault has become a cozy martini bar. “These are not bridges to nowhere.”

Yet questions confront the notion of putting people to work through federal largess. South Carolina’s governor, Mark Sanford, a Republican, has been an ardent opponent of federal aid for states, branding it pork barrel spending. If the money is delivered to state agencies like the Department of Transportation, which has its own list of priorities, Columbia might be disappointed.

It frustrates me that so many people in public life think their job is to pontificate about philosophies and put out videos set to the tune “Back In the Saddle”.

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40Comments

  1. 1.

    robertdsc

    February 19, 2009 at 10:13 am

    Goddamned animals. Every one of those bastards should rot in hell for even daring to say that they’d refuse funds. What about the people in their states? Keee-rist.

  2. 2.

    cleek

    February 19, 2009 at 10:16 am

    golly. and here i thought the GOP had principles…

  3. 3.

    valdivia

    February 19, 2009 at 10:17 am

    so if they take the money (while opposed to it for ‘philosophical’ reasons) and then the state economy gets better, how do they make a winning argument eh? I know, I know they are Republicans and lie through their teeth but wouldn’t that be something akin to empirical proof that they were, you know, ‘philosophically’ wrong?

  4. 4.

    Mouse Tolliver

    February 19, 2009 at 10:18 am

    Yuppy scum Eric Cantor is another one. His family personally profited from the bank bailout.

  5. 5.

    Dave

    February 19, 2009 at 10:18 am

    This isn’t even the most egregious example. Bobby Jindal has been saying the same BS down in Louisiana about not taking the money. Except there is a decent chance he’ll follow through.
     
    How? How can someone, especially in that particular state, be so willing to slice their constituents’ collective throat because of ideology?
     
    To take a page from history, if a pacifist like Alvin York can find it in himself to fight for his country, then Bobby Jindal can suck it up and take some government cash to help the people of Louisiana.

  6. 6.

    BC

    February 19, 2009 at 10:20 am

    but wouldn’t that be something akin to empirical proof that they were, you know, ‘philosophically’ wrong

    No, if it works, it is because the Republican governor and the Republican legislature were able to make gold from shit. A little reverse engineering of what Republicans usually do.

  7. 7.

    Joshua Norton

    February 19, 2009 at 10:23 am

    I go into this fantasy world where I’m like, I’m in the wrong life and I’m actually a millionaire.

    Working class Republican ideology in a nutshell. Otherwise known as Jo(k)e-the-Plumber-ism. They may not know where their next paycheck is coming from, but they know what kind of expensive car they’re going to buy when they get rich. And the big bad Dems are going to raise the imaginary taxes on my imaginary millions.

    I’m seriously conflicted between empathy and "you voted for your guy, now live with it".

  8. 8.

    headpan

    February 19, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Pity me. Sanford is my governer which means I am also stuck with Sweetpea GraHAM and DeMinted as Senators. And I am sick to death of Sanford being all over the local papers picking apart social service agencies just at a time when their services are needed the most *and* when funding for these agencies are needed the most. He’d damned well BETTER take the money or those of us with half a brain WILL be coming with pitchforks.

  9. 9.

    Stuck

    February 19, 2009 at 10:34 am

    @Mouse Tolliver:

    . His family personally profited from the bank bailout.

    And then there are wingnut congresscritters who are now touting the effects of the stimulus bill they voted against. They never stop with the Douchebaggery.

  10. 10.

    KDP

    February 19, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Gee, that was a quick turnaround. Why just two days ago, Sanford was quoted as saying that he would not take the money.

    PBS Report

    But not all governors are readjusting their budgets to welcome the influx of federal money. Republican Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Rick Perry of Texas and South Carolina’s Mark Sanford all opposed the stimulus as wasteful spending. Sanford, the chair of the Republican Governor’s Association, has said he will not take any of stimulus money because it will "hurt, not help" the people.

    "Historically, simply throwing government money at a struggling economy hasn’t created growth," Sanford wrote in an opinion piece in The State newspaper.

    @headpan – I am sorry that you are burdened with Sanford, DeMint and Graham. I guess Sanford found it difficult to stand on principle when his political future was at stake.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Dread

    February 19, 2009 at 10:34 am

    It frustrates me that so many people in public life think their job is to pontificate about philosophies and put out videos set to the tune “Back In the Saddle”.

    Because they live inside of a fantasy world with sycophants, insider cocktail parties, colleagues that share and reinforce their core values, and lobbyists and millionaires willing to foot the bill for them or hand over a lot of money to them. And when they get fired from their job, their party or their rich friends are only too happy to give them another position, often with better pay.

    Most of them have never lay awake at 2 am wondering how the hell they’re going to pay the mortgage/rent and pay for food this month. Or known the shame of being out of work for 6 or 7 months, having to crash on a sofa or move back in with their parents.

    They are our modern day aristocrats who, when being told the peasants are a wee bit pissed off that there isn’t any bread to eat, wonder why they don’t just eat cake.

    And frankly, if this were two hundred years ago, they would be sharing the same fate as their ideological forefathers.

  12. 12.

    gbear

    February 19, 2009 at 10:37 am

    Tim Pawlenty was on Rachel Maddow’s show a couple days ago representing governors who ‘have a problem’ with the idea of the stimulus program. Did anyone watch that? What did he have to say?

    My monitor is in too much danger when I watch TPaw clips. I had to shut it off when he started off the interview by saying how ‘funny’ Rachel’s intro was. Condescending jerk.

  13. 13.

    gbear

    February 19, 2009 at 10:42 am

    Grandpajohn posted this in the ‘burned out’ thread yesterday:

    As a SC resident it good to note that not all our politicians are insane republicans bent only on self promotion and looking for political gain over the good of the state residents. Clyburn had a provision inserted in the legislation that allows state legislative bodies to override the political shenanigans of the idiot repub governors who might refuse the funds. This came about because he is well aware of the borderline insanity of Sanford.
    and no doubt that the legislature would do so because since we are looking at even having to close schools and lay off teachers and other government functions.Sanford can’t even get half of his own legislation past his own party controlled legislature because his own party realizes that he is insane.

  14. 14.

    headpan

    February 19, 2009 at 10:42 am

    Anyway, what IDIOT would call federal funding for his own state PORK? Who does that?? As far as I’m concerned, he can just keep that up – let the people of this state see his ass-fuckery for just what it is, and in full frontal mode.

  15. 15.

    Dave

    February 19, 2009 at 10:42 am

    @gbear:

    His angle was that while he wasn’t pleased with elements of the deal, since Minnesota is a net contributor to the federal government, he had no issues with taking the cash.
     
    As arguments go, it’s probably the best one these GOP governors will have available.

  16. 16.

    Bootlegger

    February 19, 2009 at 10:48 am

    @Comrade Dread: Word. They keep repeating to each other that tax cuts have always worked, and government spending has never worked without any evidence supporting it and much evidence to the contrary. Yet they keep saying it, over and over, and our damned news actors don’t call them on it, they just repeat it. Anyone who calls them on it is a "far-left socialist extremist". How do we blow up the view through the Looking Glass?

  17. 17.

    neff

    February 19, 2009 at 11:15 am

    Yeah, like gbear said, Sanford basically had no choice but to accept the money because the state legislature (controlled by his own party!) was gearing up to force him to take it whether he wanted to or not.

  18. 18.

    Comrade Dread

    February 19, 2009 at 11:19 am

    Someone may have already linked to this, but this is exactly the kind of sick mentality that America’s ruling class believes in.

    Responsibility for thee, but bailouts for me…

  19. 19.

    Brien Jackson

    February 19, 2009 at 11:23 am

    This is just transparently cynical. Remember, Sanford is the guy who forced the Congress to insert language allowing state legislatures to do an end run around their governor after he refused to petition the federal government for more money for their state unemployment fund when it went dry. So because of that, these governors are basically making a simple calculation; their legislature will be a fail-safe for them, they’ll get the economic benefits of the stimulus, their constituents will more or less forget about their stance or go back to pretending to be specially rugged inividualists by that time; and then they can turn around and use their positioning to appeal to the national conservative movement just in time for 2012.

  20. 20.

    Walker

    February 19, 2009 at 11:26 am

    As arguments go, it’s probably the best one these GOP governors will have available.

    Except that most of the Republican states are welfare states that get more than they give

  21. 21.

    Stooleo

    February 19, 2009 at 11:27 am

    “I go into this fantasy world where I’m like, I’m in the wrong life and I’m actually a millionaire.

    This is the specious reasoning that has up ended our tax code and placed the financial burden on the middle class and allowed the wealthy to get of scot free. I refer to this as lottery ticket mentality where you buy a lottery ticket and get to fantasize how cool it would be to win 10 million bucks but ultimately you lose. With this tax code you get to fantasize how cool it would be to be rich and not have to pay taxes, but again, you’re not rich and ultimately you lose.

  22. 22.

    binzinerator

    February 19, 2009 at 11:31 am

    @Joshua Norton:

    They may not know where their next paycheck is coming from, but they know what kind of expensive car they’re going to buy when they get rich. And the big bad Dems are going to raise the imaginary taxes on my imaginary millions.

    You nailed it. They got nothing, insecure crummy jobs, no education, and a future of more of the same. So they dream of a future where they’re rich and they live in that fantasy so much because it’s the only thing they got to hang on to that they start to identify with the people who really are rich.

    I’m seriously conflicted between empathy and "you voted for your guy, now live with it".

    I’m not. Fuck these people. It’s not like there weren’t any alternatives. They could have gotten educated and opened up a whole new world of jobs. They could have demanded universal health insurance. They could have demanded laws that support unions, not weaken them, so they would have leverage to make their employer share some of the wealth made off of their labor. They could have insisted the rich and corporations and capital gains get taxed like they used to, like it was back when manufacturing was ascendant.

    But no. They insisted on shitting in their own hats. I don’t have a problem watching these fuckers have to wear them. In fact, I insist they do. Fuck them.

  23. 23.

    passerby

    February 19, 2009 at 11:36 am

    Of course all of the GOP Govs will take every last nickel coming their way.

    But,

    From what I’ve read, there does exist a valid concern about the creation of programs for which the money will eventually run out leaving the states to foot the bill to sustain them down the road.

    As a solution, the states have to be smart enough to implement the programs as short term support and must put themselves in a politically unpopular position of having the program end. This is a problem once the populace grows dependent on the support, especially given the fact that governments are not smart enough to deal with what’s on their plates now.

    I can understand the element of states matching a percentage of the program money but, with everyone so cash-strapped, the short term appeal may turn ugly when the chickens come home to roost.

    America is not known for long term planning and usually lives paycheck to paycheck gladly willing to leave a mess for the winner of the next election.

    So, while I’m convinced they’ll take the money (re-election is their goal), the issues they raise are worth looking at from a sustainability point of view.

  24. 24.

    linda

    February 19, 2009 at 11:39 am

    to those sons of bitches intent on destroying this country; this is another angle to the reality:

    The food bank for pets, run out of Sabin’s B.C. Dog Training Club, opened almost a month ago and is accepting dog and cat food donations, which it distributes at no cost to people suffering a financial crisis. With little publicity, she has handed out 12 to 15 bags of food every Saturday morning, mostly to senior citizens on fixed incomes, and expects the numbers to grow as word spreads….

    At Save-A-Pet in Grayslake, executive director Frank Corbi said he has seen about a 20 percent increase since last year in people relinquishing their cats or dogs.

    Corbi described a man who had to return a pet because "he was literally living out of his truck."

    Afterward, "he went outside and actually fell on his knees and cried," Corbi said. "I will never forget that."

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-pet-pantry-nzone-20feb20,0,3600098.story

  25. 25.

    Bootlegger

    February 19, 2009 at 11:39 am

    @Stooleo: Not only do you fantasize about winning, but you start to dread paying all those taxes. The lottery-view not only infers that we will all be rich, but also that we shouldn’t tax our soon-to-be wealthy selves.

  26. 26.

    Bootlegger

    February 19, 2009 at 11:42 am

    @passerby: I think this is a red herring, the states already have the bureaucratic structure in place to spend the stimulus money. Moreover, the states won’t be augmenting their current budgets with it, they will be filling holes that in normal tax years would have been funded. So I don’t buy it.

  27. 27.

    binzinerator

    February 19, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Blue collar republicans. Reminds me of those pathetic people who go to Las Vegas and blow all their kids’ college money or their own retirement money. Those people too fantasize about winning their jackpot.

    Actually, the gambler who pisses away his future is probably suffering from some kind of addiction, so I actually have some sympathy for them. But blue collar republicans? What are they, addicted to stupidity? Or are they just the biggest fucking group of easily manipulated suckers ever?

  28. 28.

    Tsulagi

    February 19, 2009 at 11:45 am

    You mean there isn’t a solid chorus of “Thanks, but no thanks” among the Pub govs with Winky out front leading the cheer? Color me surprised.

    You can bet they’ve got their deposit slips ready. Then later bitch that blue states got a disproportionate amount and once again they’ve been victimized.

    How come in these dire times none of those Gooper govs are putting Republican econ gospel talk to the walk in their states? You know, suspending all state taxes; income, business taxes, sales, etc. Hasn’t it been foretold that drastically cutting taxes can only lead to an embarrassing growth of revenue resulting in a veritable cornucopia of riches to gorge upon? Don’t keep Liberty U MBA Jesus weeping.

  29. 29.

    mellowjohn

    February 19, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    headpan @ #19 —

    "…let the people of this state see his ass-fuckery for just what it is, and in full frontal mode."

    wouldn’t that be "full dorsal mode?"

  30. 30.

    passerby

    February 19, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    @Bootlegger:

    I confess I haven’t read the bill. Oh well. I can’t help but wonder then, if the money will be subjected to the skimming machinery where, like in the Loony Toons cartoon, a tree log gets whittled down to make one toothpick. Either way, no confidence.

  31. 31.

    ksmiami

    February 19, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    binzinerator:

    Thanks for saying what I can’t without sounding really, really condescending and elitist. These joke-the-plumbers have been completely duped by the Republican elite into voting against their own interests and since they have no desire to employ critical thinking, speak only in sloganeering and have been convinced by Rush that they are somehow so much better than the working proles, they have sort of made their beds. I don’t have any more sympathy, I just want the political realities of changing demographics, a reinvigoration of America’s cities and more liberal attitudes on the behalf of young people to leave them as a powerless political non-entity. It’s like we will make them eat their spinach and eventually they will realize that they like it.

  32. 32.

    Brian J

    February 19, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    If this mostly wasteful spending, they’d be on to something. But while there’s always the chance that this money won’t be valuable for anything over the long term, they pretend like every part of the spending side (which is, by the way, far less than the total of the bill) is going to be thrown at useless projects. This is to say nothing of their ideological objections to spending like that which might have helped lower-income women with their birth plans, which if what I read is true could have saved Medicare quite a bit of money.

    I don’t want to act like I am wishing misfortune on anyone, but those who end up suffering more than is necessary because of some sort of faux posturing should be reminded of who did what in trying to get the economic recovery started. If hundreds of thousands if not millions of voters reject Republicans at various levels that were dead set against any sort of federal help, they will be entirely justified in their votes.

  33. 33.

    J to the G

    February 19, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    As others have pointed out, Sanford’s bloviating is empty rhetorical red meat, because he’s so incredibly unpopular with most of the legislators (R and D) in his own state that they ignore what he wants and override all of his vetoes. It’s not really possible to over-exaggerate how bad the blood is between the legislative and executive branches; because everything out of the Gov’s office is DOA at the Capitol, he basically lives in this rhetorical fantasy world where everyone loves him because he’s helping to slay the evil government dragon.

    All that said, South Carolina is more fucked than most states in the current climate. In the south, probably only Florida is in worse shape. The irony being, of course, that Gov. Crist is actively working with the legislature and feds to try and make things work, while Sanford lobs rhetorical spitballs and does next to nothing to actually help the problem.

  34. 34.

    Mike in NC

    February 19, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    Sanford, the chair of the Republican Governor’s Association, has said he will not take any of stimulus money because it will "hurt, not help" the people.

    He is merely voicing the simple-minded Social Darwinism that the GOP has always stood for. Huge tax cuts for the rich; let the less fortunate fight each other for a few food stamps. A win-win for them.

  35. 35.

    Mike in NC

    February 19, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    South Carolina is more fucked than most states in the current climate.

    Believe it or not, SC recently had a tax-free holiday on guns, and guns only. Now the governeor wants to cut off unemployment insurance for people. Good to have your priorities straight.

  36. 36.

    Bootlegger

    February 19, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    @passerby: Oh for sure. And I wouldn’t put it past some powerful state legislators to invent some new bureaucracies to fund in their home districts. No doubt much of this will stimulate something we didn’t intend to stimulate, but its not for the reasons given by Jindal et al.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    February 19, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    @binzinerator & Josh Norton & others
    I read the man’s quote as coming from a place of desperation, not dreamland.
    He’s not talking about the fine elitist things he would buy with his faux millions, but IMO he’s saying his life sucks so hard he escapes into a place that isn’t quite so stark.
    He may still be a blue collar Republican, which I agree has always flabbergasted me, but he’s not dreaming of a better future, he’s desperate for a better now.

  38. 38.

    grandpajohn

    February 20, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    Here is SC the one bright light is our stupid insane governor is term limited out so he will soon be gone and maybe sanity can be restored to the office.
    As someone above pointed out he is openly ridiculed by his own party controlled legislature. another factor for which we can be grateful, in SC the governors office is mostly a figurehead, one of the weakest in the nation, the legislature wields the power and in the case of Sanford this is indeed a blessing
    To show how insane he is the loon who can’t even unite his party controlled legislature and win them over has delusions of running for president and convincing people to vote for him.

  39. 39.

    serge

    February 20, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I too suffer the indignities of representation by Sanford, DeMint (sounds French), and Graham. Sanford’s a fool, posturing before the Court of Republican Hierarchy for his inevitable bid for the presidency. DeMint (sounds French) is simply dumber than a box of rocks. Graham needs special care, the political equivalent of riding the dismissive "short bus." If McCain didn’t tell him what to say, he will have said nothing.

    Don’t count on anything intelligent, proactively good, or remotely progressive from this group. Rather, gird your loins for the unimaginable. This triplet of troglodytes are capable of anything, so long as it’s more stupid than the last position taken.

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