BCT Editorial – 2/26/09

This page was last updated on February 28, 2009.

Lip service; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 26, 2009.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“When it comes to opposing President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, don’t listen to what some Republican governors are saying. Watch what they do.

“For instance, Louisiana Gov. Bob Jindal has become the face for GOP opposition to the stimulus package, even though his state is in line to receive $3.9 billion.”

[RWC] Yet again a Times editorial can’t get a governor’s name correct. Gov. Jindal’s name isn’t Bob, Robert, et cetera; his given name is Piyush. According to Wikipedia, as a child Mr. Jindal gave himself the nickname of Bobby. Prior to this editorial I never heard anyone refer to Gov. Jindal as “Bob.”

You may recall “Building a future” referred to NJ Gov. Jon Corzine as Dave Corzine.

“But as Jon Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’ reported, despite his public stance, Jindal is willing to accept all but about $100 million of the funds.”

[RWC] Since October 2004, at least 14 Times editorials have cited “The Daily Show” and/or “The Colbert Report” as news sources. Previously I wrote I didn’t know if this is funny or sad. I concluded it’s sad.

“The New Orleans Times-Picayune backs that up.”

[RWC] So a real newspaper is relegated to backup for a political comedy show? Why wouldn’t the Times cite the Times-Picayune instead of Jon Stewart? Could you imagine what the Times would say if a newspaper cited Rush Limbaugh as a news source then went onto say a newspaper “backs that up?”

“It reported Jindal would reject as much as $98 million in federal unemployment assistance but accept federal dollars for transportation projects and a $25-a-week increase in unemployment benefits.”

[RWC] Note the editorial never indicates why a governor might make this decision. That’s because the editorial wants is to believe it’s simply an issue of ideology. It isn’t.

Here’s the situation as it’s been reported. One condition of accepting some of the money is that temporary programs be made permanent. That is, when the federal taxpayer money is exhausted, the state must continue to fund the program(s) with its own money.

“A few other GOP governors are singing from the same hypocrite’s songbook. Watch their hands, not their lips.”

[RWC] The editorial failed to note the Democrat governor (Phil Bredesen) of Tennessee has the same problem with the spending bill as the cited Republican governors and is also considering rejecting “relief for unemployed workers worth an estimated $143 million because of conditions placed on the money by Congress” (“Tennessee may reject stimulus aid for jobless,” Chas Sisk, The Tennessean, 2/25/09).

I posted the above paragraph on the Times website and a local lefty responded Democrat Gov. Bredesen is “ultra-conservative,” “hardly a typical Democrat,” and then launched into a personal attack on Gov. Jindal.

Another responder identified another Democrat governor balking at some of the stimulus. According to The Union Leader, “‘I don’t anticipate using federal stimulus dollars to expand or create programs that we then cannot support once that one-time money is gone,’ [Gov. John] Lynch told New Hampshire reporters via telephone from Washington D.C.” (“Stimulus in NH: One-time money or windfall?”, John DiStaso, The Union Leader, 2/25/09). I wonder if Gov. Lynch is another “ultra-conservative” and thus “hardly a typical Democrat.” <g>

The hypocrisy label is BS and the Times knows it because governors have little choice but to accept the money regardless of their ideological leanings. If a state refuses to accept the money, the money would be divvied up among the other states but taxpayers living in states not taking the money would still pay the same amount of federal taxes.