The (Republican) Speaker of the House in South Carolina puts governor Mark Sanford in his place:
It makes no sense for the governor to cherry-pick the funds he will accept — such as the $50 million to make buildings more energy-efficient that he requested the other week — and oppose money for teachers and law enforcement officers on so-called “philosophical” grounds. This is inconsistent with any kind of viewpoint and goes against what most people would consider to be common sense.
This philosophical rejection could mean the firing of 2,000 to 5,000 teachers, 700 prison guards being let go, three or four prisons closed and 3,400 convicted felons released onto the streets.
[….]During these difficult times that have sent our unemployment numbers to a record-high 11.4 percent — and consistently among the highest two or three rates in the nation — our state is in need of a true leader. Someone who is prepared to govern with decisive action, not just political rhetoric and ideology.
It’s tempting to say it’s surprising that someone so lucid and practical would be Speaker of the House of a government as dysfunctional as South Carolina’s appears to be. But there are pragmatic people everywhere, thank God. The problem with the Republican party isn’t that all of its elected officials are loons (they’re not), it’s that they’re letting the inmates, er, I mean philosophers, run the asylum.
In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
Mwangangi
Their leadership really is the CEO party… if your CEOs behave like character from a Max Barry novel (Company, Jennifer Government).
Mr Furious
So, how long til that guy is forced to apologize to Rush Limbaugh?
DougJ
Funny.
Comrade Stuck
The perfect virus for the Wingnut Central Resurrection Hub.
srv
Not that they probably needed it, but they did have something on Jane.
Fencedude
You know, I think that we’re going to see more and more sanity (such as it is) coming from state house/senate GOPers.
Not that there won’t still be crazy ones, but we’ll see more and more of stuff like this.
DougJ
Pretty much exactly what I would have expected from her.
Church Lady
He’s pragmatic – citizens of South Carolina are going to be just as responsible for repayment of all federal stimulus funds as citizens of other states, so why not at least get the benefit of the goodies thay are going to have to pay for anyway.
DougJ
Yup. Even if Sanford were right in principle (which I don’t think he is), his decision makes no sense for that exact reason.
My Prius rolls on dubs
It’s the fundamental fallacy of the modern GOP writ large. Sanford really believes that the majority of voters agree with his principled stand. The Speaker, on the other hand, looks at something other than Fox News for his polling and realizes which way the wind is blowing.
It’s not just ideological vs. pragmatic, it’s self-delusional.
Hunter Gathers
All Sandford is doing is positioning himself for a run at the GOP nomination for POTUS in 2012. He’s term limited as govenor. He has nowhere else to go. South Carolina will hold an early primary. And the party base loves hearing the bullshit that comes out of his pie-hole.
Calouste
Doug, I assume you are talking about the soon-to-be-ex-Speaker of the House in South Carolina?
uila
Good cop/bad cop? Keep the
perpspeeps disoriented and compliant.Elvis Elvisberg
OK, with this fellow, and Dick Lugar, we’re down to 99.97% of GOP elected officials being loons.
Mike in NC
Governor Sanford is right now marginally more popular in South Carolina than General Sherman was in 1865, right after he burned Columbia to the ground.
Roger the Cabin Boy
Palin/Sanford 2012!
Cris
The sad part is that I could come up with several names off the top of my head who are non-looney (such as the so-called “Mod Squad” in the Senate). But like most humans, they behave like pack animals. When the loonies in the leadership start chewing up the furniture, the good dogs turn into bad dogs and play along.
LD50
It’s an interesting phenomenon these days that the more extravagantly stupid a GOP politician behaves, the more likely it is that he’s positioning himself to run for president in 2012.
Enlightened Layperson
This is the difference, as Doug J says, between theory and practice. People who have actual power wind up with responsibilities and have to deal with the real world. People on the outside ranting, not so much.