Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have the same feel for the Good Gov’na Purdue that I have for Obama; not even close. But how nice it is to listen to some of the best conservatives in the country talk about the stimulus package:?
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a likely 2012 presidential contender, has said he would reject a portion of the money aimed at expanding state unemployment insurance.
Notice the level of detail intimated by Jindal. He is not rejecting all of the money, just that money that speaks to unemployment insurance.
Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., said he was considering a similar move. Taking the unemployment dollars, he said, would force his state to eventually raise taxes when the stimulus money runs out, putting in place what he called an unfair tax on employers.
“There is some (money) we will not take in Mississippi. … We want more jobs. You don’t get more jobs by putting an extra tax on creating jobs,” Barbour told CNN’s “State of the Union’ on Sunday.
Again, very detailed analysis of the package. These guys know the good from the bad; almost as if they–you know, READ the bill.
Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm said there are other states that want and need the new money: “We’ll take it. We’ll take your money.”
States with unemployment rates significantly differ- ent from that of the U.S
Guess who’s state is that highest bar, just left of center? Yeah, that’s right. The Great State belonging to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. That, by the way, is not an accident.
At issue for Jindal and Barbour is a provision in the stimulus bill that could allow people ineligible for unemployment benefits to receive them anyway. That could eventually force a tax increase on employers, both governors have said.
Nice. So even if the state doesn’t want the money, the Federal Government forces them to take it anyway. And they have to raise taxes as a result. How is this legal?
Some Democrats took a harder line at a press conference arranged by the Democratic Governors Association to praise Obama for his leadership on the stimulus. DGA Chairman Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley dismissed GOP detractors as “fringe” Republicans eager to score political points.
“All of us are committed to working with President Obama to pull our nation’s economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush ran it into,” O’Malley said. “If some of the fringe governors don’t want to do that, they need to step aside and not stand in the way of the nation’s interests.”
Sorry, but when you complain of “fringe” Republicans and then say “pull our nation’s economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush ran it into” you lose some all credibility in my book.
The line drew a rebuke from Sanford, the Republican Governors Association chairman.
“I think in this instance I would humbly suggest that the real fringe are those that are supporting the stimulus,” Sanford said. “It is not at all in keeping with the principles that made this country great, not at all in keeping with economic reality, not in keeping with a stable dollar and not in keeping with the sentiments of most of this country.
Finally, Republicans acting like Republicans.