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Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal, and Sarah Palin are all gearing up for the 2012 election. How do I know that? All of them have announced plans to refuse parts of the stimulus package. Appealing to their NeoCon base voters (who are in an ever shrinking minority of voters in the country as a whole) they see the act of refusing money allocated by Washington to bolster their particular state economy as running contrary to their desire to hold down spending and programs even if it means that the citizens of their states suffer more because of their actions. That’s NeoCon logic for you… in other words, it’s not logical at all.
All three of these rightwingers hail from red states and, as such, do well in the polls if they are seen standing up to Washington. The fact that real people are being hurt by their actions means nothing at all to them. Ideology is more important than the effect that ideology has on their populace. They are counting on voters to remember that they are republicans and not much else come election time. They will spin their refusal to accept some of the stimulus as “state’s rights” and garner the remnant of the racist vote that is crucial for their continued re-elections. But mostly, they are counting on the furor to die down by the time election day rolls around, throw up the boogyman scenario of electing a Democrat, and another trumped up issue or two to escape responsibility for not looking after the needs of the electorate by turning down this money.
I seem to recall Ms Palin remarking during the most recent campaign that if she was elected VP that parents of disadvantaged children would have a friend in the White House. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it logically follow that she would be a friend while still in the statehouse as well? Well, we are not asserting that NeoCons like Palin are ever being logical because it appears that a lot of the money she is turning down would help put additional money into the state’s paltry education budget and some of that is going to help those same disadvantaged children she claims to hold so dear. Since it means that some more people would be employed (and therefore increase the size of government) Palin is refusing to take the money. That’s NeoCon logic for you.
She is also going to refuse millions for other parts of the Alaskan economy and government functions on these same bogus principles. In addition to the $160 million for education that she is tossing back to DC there is $17 million for the Alaska Department of Labor which would help fund additional vocational rehabilitation services and unemployment services among other things, $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety. Only in the convoluted mind of a person running for the presidency who wants to make sure that her conservative NeoCon base understands she will stand up to Washington bureaucrats would turn down money designed to help the people of her state and put her ideology ahead of the needs of the state.
Bobby Jindal uses similar NeoCon logic (meaning no real logic at all) in turning down stimulus money that would have helped the unemployed in his state. Even though the state could phase out the new program when the money runs out in three years, Jindal won’t even start the program up even though his state isn’t paying for it, the feds are. The unemployed in Louisiana suffer thanks to the brilliant NeoCon logic of prospective presidential candidates.
Mark Sanford is willing to let more than 4,000 teachers get the axe in South Carolina rather than take the stimulus money. He wants to pay down South Carolina’s debt or pay off school bonds before he will look to the needs of real people in his bass ackward state: elementary school teachers. That’s some real NeoCon logic for you.
I think that the most sense about all of this crap was made by another republican governor who legally has no ambition to be president. Arnold Schwartenegger said that if those other governors don’t want stimulus money that he would take it to help California. There is the difference between a NeoCon running for president and a republican who understands what it means to look out for his people when it is crunch time. There is no overlap between the two unfortunately.
links: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/139409
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/20/jindal-unemployed/
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090317/NEWS01/
303170003/1001/NEWS01
Well, finally! A NeoCon with some testicular fortitude who is willing to leave his fellow citizens high and dry by refusing to accept money from the Obama stimulus plan. A lot of rightwingers whined and bitched about how much the plan would cost and said it went against their conservative principles to have the government step in and save the free market or to allow the government to have a more active role in growing the economy but none of them were willing to make a principled stand, no matter how ridiculous that stand would appear to be. Until now.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared that he wasn’t going to take some of the stimulus because it went contrary to Louisiana law. It doesn’t make much difference that the law it goes against actually hurts the people of Louisiana and Jindal’s refusal means that his people would not get the full effect of the stimulus. That makes no difference at all because, to a NeoCon like Jindal, the dogma of the party is more important than the people they supposedly serve.
Jindal is being set up to be the next GOP star because he repeats the rightwing talking points and he isn’t a white guy. The republicans have hungered to get people of color out in front of their elephant parade since JC Watts retired from Congress years ago. They elected Mike Steele as their RNC chairperson and he’s as good as Jindal in repeating the talking points that the base wants to hear. One small problem: the people of America rejected those failed philosophies in the last two elections because of the damage it was doing to our economy, our reputation and the people that live here. There are, of course, pockets of support for this radical rump party but they are shrinking as we speak.
Jindal is also slated to give the GOP response to Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress this coming Tuesday. It will further highlight the simple fact that republicans have come to realize that ignoring the other colors of Americans has its risks. Conversely, showing us that two minorities have swallowed the NeoCon line isn’t very convincing either (three if you count Alan Keyes).
What is totally amusing is that Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated that California would gladly take the refused stimulus money. Rick “Balls Of Jello” Perry of Texas, Mark “Screw The People” Sanford of South Carolina, and Haley “Convicted Felon” Barbour of Mississippi haven’t said if they will co-operate with Arnold’s suggestion or if they will wait for the hubbub to die down and take the stimulus money after all. Chances are that when the press coverage dies down each and every governor will take every penny they can get and take credit for getting the whole thing passed the next time they run for re-election. NeoCons like these would do exactly that.
There are opposition voices coming from within the GOP that have a different message. Jim DeMint is suggesting that we do nothing, let the banks fail, let foreclosures, rise, allow the economy to lapse into a depression while we sit by and watch. Well, it takes all kinds. Spoken like a guy who has a job. Too bad he’s not doing his job. The people of South Carolina deserve all the ignorant asses they elect and should memorize all the stupid things these idiots say so when their worlds fall apart and they are living in their cars, working part time at a fast food place, they will know what hit them. Looks like we will be hearing the death cries of the Bushworlders for some time to come.
Inspirational links: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19092.html
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/18/demint-do-nothing/
Black & White and Cardinal Red All Over 