Saturday, February 21, 2009

Some Republican Governors grandstand about rejecting federal stimulus dough


Bobby Jindal: "I'll have the cheese cake but hold the cream in my coffee"

A half dozen Republican Governors say they are thinking about rejecting some of the tens of billions of stimulus dough the feds are ready to hand out to the states.

Oh, please, give me a break!

Most of the group (can we call the the Rejectionists?) appears suspiciously similar to the list of GOPers touted as likely national candidates in 2012 -- Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and of course, Alaska's Sarah Palin.

So far, only Jindal has formerly rejected any of the gigantic boodle. In his case, he's not taking $98.4 million in federal incentives to expand unemployment coverage, because the new program would eventually cost the state additional money. Fair enough, but the money he's rejecting is a mere 2.5% of Louisiana's $3.8 billion share in the stimulus sweepstakes.

Sorry, such a piddling part of the package doesn't add up to a principled stand. What Jindal is doing is giving himself a talking point with more fiscally conservative voters (who may grow in number by 2012!). I'd be surprised if any of the other Rejectionsists reject much more than this.

What do you think? Post a comment.

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