The Associated Press’s Beth Fouhy reports that there’s enthusiasm among GOP Governors for the spending plan being debated in Congress:
Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.
Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.
If true, it wouldn’t be a surprise. After all, for the nation’s Governors, this would effectively be ‘free’ money coming at a time of extreme budget challenges. Who wouldn’t push for it? But while it might seem logical that they would, I can’t see any evidence on the public record that ‘most Republican Governors’ are ‘pushing for passage’ of the debt plan.
In Touhy’s piece, she cites Florida’s Charlie Crist and Vermont’s Jim Douglas among those pushing for enactment (but elsewhere Crist seems decidedly unenthusiastic). I can also find evidence that Connecticut’s Jodi Rell is lobbying for it, Alabama’s Bob Riley seems eager for it to pass, and it’s obvious that Arnold Schwarzenegger is an enthusiastic supporter. But among the 22 Republican Goverors, those 5 are the only strong supporters I can find — at least based on the results of a good deal of searching on Google News.
Alaska’s Sarah Palin supports the transportation component of the package. I can find no recorded position for Arizona’s new Republican Governor Jan Brewer, but the state assumes enactment of the stimulus package to help close a budget shortfall. Hawaii’s Linda Lingle is anticipating passage as well. Jim Gibbons is characterized in several places as a supporter, though I don’t see a formal statement. Rhode Island’s Don Carcieri ‘has great ways to spend it.’ Mike Rounds (SD) and Jon Huntsman (UT) sound like backers. Tim Pawlenty (MN) says he wouldn’t refuse the money, and John Hoeven (SD) sounds like has plans for the cash, too.
Georgia’s Sonny Perdue is clearly not counting on the money, but I can’t find any formal position for him. Butch Otter of Idaho falls into the same category. Nebraska’s Dave Heineman is proceeding with budget cuts regardless of the outcome of the Congressional debate.
Indiana’s Mitch Daniels expresses great misgivings about the plan, but ‘hopes it works.’ The package is outright opposed by Rick Perry (R-TX), Mark Sanford (R-SC), and Haley Barbour (R-MS). Bobby Jindal (R-LA) says he would have voted against the bill, (but will take the money if it comes).
So of 22 Republican Governors, 5 are taking whacks at the pinata, 4 are trying to knock the sticks out of their hands, 3 of them have got firm plans to go without whatever may hit the floor, and 10 are opportunistically waiting to see what they get. I don’t see how that translates into ‘most Republican governors’ pressing for Congress to pass the plan — at least unless Fouhy has access to more information that I missed, and which doesn’t appear in her article.
And of course, the nature of the debate makes it hard for a Governor to oppose this windfall — who wants to explain budget cuts to the voters while money is left on the table? The view of Pawlenty, Hoeven, and several others is the most fiscally conservative attitude consistent with their self-interest: that of not endorsing the plan, but taking the money anyway. Nevertheless 7 Republicans actually oppose the plan or are refusing to take the funds — a position that actually hurts them politically.
You would expect all 50 of the nation’s governors to be begging for this help. In fact, very few Republican governors are doing so despite the obvious incentive. The Associated Press gets the headline exactly wrong.
A Politicians Trough
shield Saturday, January 31st at 5:04PM EST (link)The governors should be very, very leery and afraid of anything the new president says, does or thinks!
Even tho the states are decimated form the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Financial Institutions colossal failure in the US and round the world this is NOT the time to go to the trough for a bailout.
Use this opportunity to lay the blame on this debacle where it belongs when you are forced to trim your budgets by laying personnel off and cutting services…on the Democrats. Former president Jimmy Carter instituted the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) in 1977.
The CRA pressured banks to allow people who lived in depressed areas to receive loans from banks and mortgage financial institutions who did not qualify for these loans.
Former president Bill Clinton put the CRA on steriods and threatened the lenders if they did not comply. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, all CEO’S of the Fannies Mae and Mac and Wall Street also pressured these entities to comply.
These greedy and corrupted people received millions in bonuses or sweetheart deals.
Thus, the corruption and greed began here and round the world with foreign investors financing these worthless mortgages created by the Democrats “Real Estate Bubble.”
Of course, anyone with common sense knows the new president’s stimulus scam is an invitation for the governor’s to take advantage of this bailout w/o knowing the ramifications to follow.
The new president’s ulterior motive is to pass more, permanent government entitlement, spending largess for generations after generation who have been on the dole and the generations of hard working Americans will be responsible as usual.
My point is, these entitlements will begin and continue to drain your coffers, forever. The new president is trying to use you (governors) as ALL Democrats use the people on the dole to buy permanent voters for their dynastic party.
None of these professional, political parasites care one whit about you, me or anyone else who will not vote for them. WAKE UP! This too shall pass!
“Whatever evolves was first, created” - Jason Leverette, Patriot
AP-OBama strikes again.
barry915barry Saturday, January 31st at 5:51PM EST (link)nt
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Praying Saturday, January 31st at 6:20PM EST (link)nt
Join the RedState Strike Force
Jim Douglas
Skanderbeg Saturday, January 31st at 6:03PM EST (link)That’s really strange, since locally Jim Douglas (R-VT) seems downright annoyed by the notion.
The state is facing a deepening budget crisis, commercial-sector layoffs are coming almost daily, and the tax base is collapsing. He had finally boxed in the (D) legislature that they had to make cuts, including 600 state jobs.
So the D legislative leadership makes a jaunt to Washington and returns with a message of “Yippee, we’re gonna get a billion dollars handed to us, and thus we don’t have to cut anything! Keep the party going, folks!” J.D. correctly points out that even if this works out, it’s just kicking the problem down the road to a point where it will be even worse.
AP has achieved complete senescence….
Maybe AP has it wrong?
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 7:07PM EST (link)From AP today.
“Palin plans to meet with Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader. She will be meeting with other senators. In this respect, Palin will urge Senate Republicans to support the stimulus.”
Tough being a Governor right now I guess, but still this is not good news for Republican fiscal conservatives.
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Competency over ideological purity
gross overstatement
Princeliberty Saturday, January 31st at 7:10PM EST (link)Palin only supports the 8% of the bill that is for transportation.
She even said she might refuse money for other projects.
Princeliberty
Good then
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 7:12PM EST (link)That’s good news then, but let’s see what reporting during the rest of the week on this topic has to say about Governor Palin’s stance on the Porkbailout.
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Competency over ideological purity
Gov. Sarah Palin Pressing Republican Senators to vote YES for stimulus.
antisocial Saturday, January 31st at 7:08PM EST (link)Just heard this on FOX. Is this correct?
No you can’t - Moe Lane
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The Emperor has no clothes!!!
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Republicans who lost the Crap-and-Raid fight in the House -
Mary Bomo Mac (CA-45)
Mike Castle (DE)
Mark Kirk (IL-10)
Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ-02)
Chris Smith (NJ-04)
Leonard Lance (NJ-07)
John M. McHugh (NY-23)
Dave Reichert (WA-08)
Just heard that also
Scope Saturday, January 31st at 8:01PM EST (link)I don’t care what little part of the Stimulus package she may be for, she should be against the whole thing. If this is true, she just lost me as a supporter. I don’t know where her comments were made, but, I know she was going to be at a bipartisan meeting last night in Washington. Story had it that she was going to be on the same stage with Obama. I am confused about her stand on Amnesty, as she once said to a Hispanic group she was for it, and then said to another interviewer that she was against it. I will be watching very closely, and hope that what I heard is further media trashing.
She's taking flak in AK over not asking for more
Josh Painter Saturday, January 31st at 8:41PM EST (link)Lawmakers concerned governor is seeking too little federal money
Palin Angers Alaska Dems Over Stimulus Cash
Begich says Palin not asking for enough in Obama’s stimulus proposal
Damned if she does, damed if she doesn’t.
- JP
“An armed society is a polite society” - Robert A. Heinlein, “Beyond This Horizon” (1942)
Today's "stimulus" story in the Anchorage Daily News.
Achance Saturday, January 31st at 8:49PM EST (link)The comments are interesting though I’d take some of the tales of woe with a grain of salt.
In Vino Veritas
Damned if she does, damed [sic] if she doesn’t.
mbecker908 Saturday, January 31st at 8:57PM EST (link)Give me a freaking break Josh. That is the fate of a politician. That she is “damned” is meaningless. The real question is: Who is doing the damning?
Damned by liberals? Good.
Damned by moderates? Ehh.
Damned by conservatives? Bad.
Not really
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 9:25PM EST (link)Governor Palin is a political, doing what she has to do for her state. The claim that Governor Palin somehow transcends the “making the sausage” part of running any state is being called into question.
For the Governor to stand on principle and stand against the Porkbailout would probably cause her the next election for governor, that’s called realpolitik.
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Competency over ideological purity
That's what I said Steve.
mbecker908 Saturday, January 31st at 9:51PM EST (link)I just said it in code.
My whole point was that no matter the position, a politician will be criticized.
Principle? Hell Steve, we’re talking politics. And politicians. Let’s not go overboard here.
True
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 9:57PM EST (link)But what I want to know is if there is money for the porn industry in this new “stimulus” package and who is going to support this need.
Somewhere there is a future starlet in need of my tax dollars to fund “enhancements” necessary to succeed in this Billion dollar industry.
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Competency over ideological purity
Give Palin the break, Dr. Becker
Josh Painter Saturday, January 31st at 9:41PM EST (link)Seriously, both the left and the right have pounded her over this. Alaskans are used to Uncle Ted bringing home the bacon, and they don’t like it one bit that she isn’t asking for more.
In fact, all she has asked for from the federal government, and this goes back to well before the stimulus, are infrastructure upgrades for the natural gas pipeline which will suppy domestic energy to the lower 48, and one missle launch facility which is for national defense. Existing federal guidelines for spending requests from the states require that any funds provided must be for projects that are in the national interest. Well, the pipeline is definately in the national interest, and so is the missle base. She hasn’t asked for anything else.
She’s under a lot of pressure from both Democrats and republicans to ask for more, but she hasn’t, and she’s being crucified in the press over it up there.
She knows that the stimulus is going to be passed anyway because the Dems have the votes to pass it. So she no doubt reasons that if stimulus money is going to go to Alaska anyway, she wants to make sure it goes to energy security and nationaly security projects, and not to some biology profs at UA Fairbanks to run endless studies to determine if caribou antlers grow longer in the summertime than during the winter.
- JP
“An armed society is a polite society” - Robert A. Heinlein, “Beyond This Horizon” (1942)
Name that game
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 9:45PM EST (link)Isn’t that game called “Go along to get along” ?
Isn’t that game also known as “NewTone”?
Isn’t that the game that Republicans in Congress have been playing for the last 8 years?
Isn’t that feller who everyone questions about being Conservative, think the name is McCain, already come out strongly against the PorkStimulus bill, before house Republicans voted in mass against it too?
Oh my such questions!
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Competency over ideological purity
I'm not criticizing Gov. Palin.
mbecker908 Saturday, January 31st at 9:48PM EST (link)I’m only interested in how she handles this. I’m sure she’ll do what she thinks is in the best interest of Alaska, I don’t pretend to know what that is.
And, as far as her being under a lot of pressure, I could really care less about that. If anything, that’s a good thing. If she does decide to run for POTUS the pressure will ratchet up by a factor of 1,000 so if she can’t handle this little bump in the road she’s surely not qualified to be more than Governor.
I hope she handles the issue with characteristic grace, humor and a touch of ruthlessness. We’ll see how it all turns out and then we can talk. Or throw darts. Or both.
AFAIK, all she has asked for is
Josh Painter Saturday, January 31st at 10:15PM EST (link)$150 million for projects that would have been funded anyway. AP isn’t exactly the most trustworthy news source.
- Jp
“An armed society is a polite society” - Robert A. Heinlein, “Beyond This Horizon” (1942)
OK, but frankly I have paid absolutely no attention
mbecker908 Saturday, January 31st at 10:35PM EST (link)to the story one way or another. At this point, to me anyway, it’s pretty academic what the Gov’s say. It’s all about bringing home the bling for Reps and Senators.
She has a pretty easy situation
AKSteveB Saturday, January 31st at 9:51PM EST (link)on this one. She can say she is against it, put only a few things on the table, in the certainty that our new Sen. Begich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski will take what is out there. We just have to hope up here that a lot more of this goes to infrastructure and a lot less to “programs.” Infrastructure, well at least you have a road, programs, sooner or later the state has to pay for it.
Hell is other people - Sartre
Different kinds of principles.
Swamp_Yankee Saturday, January 31st at 10:03PM EST (link)Different kinds of principles. There are conservative principles as framed by our present political debate and there are the more traditional conservative principles required of a representative democracy and core human values.
If Palin ran as a governor and promised to represent the interest of Alaska in DC then she is doing her job. Representing your constituents as you campaigned is principled. Delivering on your promises is principled. Taking care of the people who rely on you is principled.
Too often we assume that we are electing 100 mini-Presidents as Senators or 50 mini-Presidents as Governors. It is their duty to represent their people on the national stage. Sometimes they must act from a national perspective, but not always. It’s a balancing act.
I get a little tired of internecine Republican fighting over these district matters. Of course, Michigan politicians are more sympathetic towards the auto industry; Iowa politicians are more sympathetic towards the corn industry and so on and so forth.
There will be a stimulus bill. Some of it is warranted. Most of it is not. Either way, it is a Governors job to represent their people.
This is a non-issue for me. I trust her.
Not Dead Yet!
Texas & Alaska Govs don't need stimulus
izoneguy Saturday, January 31st at 8:52PM EST (link)Governor Rick Perry and Governor Sarah Palin in San Antonio. Governor Perry is holding his framed lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association. Governor Palin is also a lifetime member of the NRA.
“When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
Thomas Jefferson
Even liberal Democrats in Alaska are Life Members.
Achance Saturday, January 31st at 9:05PM EST (link)Eric Croft, whose Dad, Chancy Croft, was the last undisguised liberal Democrat to run for State wide office, introduced the “carry unless prohibited” law. Remember Eric’s name, he’ll likely seek to follow the boy Mayor Mark Begich to the Anchorage mayor’s slot and then polish his sounding like a conservative skills and run for statewide office.
Other than the craziest of the hippie/greenie types people in Alaska realize that outside your yard, and sometimes even in your yard, you’re not at the top of the food chain unless you have a gun. I live on a suburban street of quarter acre lots and a combination of three bedroom ranchs from the sixties and zero-lot lines and duplexes from the eighties. Other than a lot of snowblowers, fish smokers, and boats in the yard, it looks pretty much like suburbs anywhere. Yet, I’ve twice been chased off my deck and out of my hot tub by black bears a few years back. We cannot put garbage outside AT ALL except after 4 AM on pick up day and the tickets for violating that can get really steep for repeat offenders. There’s a 12 gauge on my boat anytime we’re underway. If by accident or design we go ashore on any of the big islands here, we are on the Brown Bear’s territory and an 800 pound Brown Bear can really wreck your day. You go ashore with a full tube and seriously consider shaving the last one for yourself.
In Vino Veritas
Unrelated
SteveLA Saturday, January 31st at 9:29PM EST (link)A
As a limited thread-jack, could you possibly update us in another new blog entry about the Volcano raising heck in Alaska? Signs of AlGore preparing to sacrifice something to the God Vulcan or anything along those lines to prevent nature from doing it’s thing?
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Competency over ideological purity
Last time Mt. Redoubt blew, I got stuck first in ANC
Achance Saturday, January 31st at 10:22PM EST (link)then in Seattle. That set my all time record for time from ANC to JNU at 11 days. I was at ANC Airport when the KLM 747 that hit the ash cloud landed; what a mess! The ‘47 was on the Great Circle route at 30K + feet and flew right into the eruption. Blew out all her engines and the crew finally got them air started at about 8K feet. They limped into ANC and the plane looked like it had been sand blasted. 300 people who’ve just faced death are a striking picture.
I got the last plane out of ANC for days. It was the “milk run” that does ANC-Cordova-Yakutat-Juneau - Sitka - Ketchikan-Seattle. We backed out and sat there awhile. The pilot came on and said something like “It blew again, but we’ve got a plane in the area and if he makes it, we’ll go.” That’s comforting. So, after a while, we go. Now for added interest, all of Southeast Alaska was fogged in so we knew we weren’t going to Juneau, but planned to go to Sitka, which was still open, and then catch the ferry home to JNU. We do Cordova, we get to Yakutat, only about a hundred miles from JNU. You have this clock in your head if you do this all the time and we were on the ground too long. After a while, the cockpit comes on and says, everything’s down, so we’re going to Seattle, but we don’t have any food, so the drinks are free. Now an airplane full of Alaskans who’ve been stuck in airports for days already on a plane full of free booze is a sight to behold! So, we get to SEA about midnight and on our lips. The clerk who rented us the car was out of his mind. Then we discovered the shift/brake interlock and it took us a half hour to get the car in gear. I got home from Seattle on the first plane I could get a seat on - eleven days after we left Anchorage.
Anyway, when it blows it throws a lot of ash and dust in the air and makes a big mess, but there’s no real danger to any heavily populated area. It is over a hundred air miles from ANC. Just the kind of thing that makes a good story and gives reporters a trip to Alaska. People who live in Alaska want to leave this time of year so the reporters can have the place!
In Vino Veritas
I'm supposed to be out of here to Florida
AKSteveB Saturday, January 31st at 10:32PM EST (link)from Feb 4-10. Someone better put the lid on that puppy till I leave!
Hell is other people - Sartre
There is an impact, but Al Gore doesn't like it
TallChE Saturday, January 31st at 11:00PM EST (link)The ash and other chemicals from the eruption have a cooling impact on the earth. Depending on how much is discharged, it could be significant. That great scientific site, the Farmer’s Almanac, indicated that the “15 to 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide ejected into the atmosphere by the massive eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991, promptly reversed the trend of global warming, considered to be a possible sign of the greenhouse effect. Mean global temperatures were depressed by 1/2 to 1º C for the next several years.” (http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/how-do-volcanoes-affect-our-weather). The bigger the eruption, the greater the impact. The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa impacted the weather for the three or more years.
Palin should be held to the account
Princeliberty Saturday, January 31st at 10:12PM EST (link)We should not join in anything false about Palin. I think the early reports about her support for the bill were incorrect.
But if she does something bad like support amnesty she should be rebuked.
But I have not heard anything that shows that. But if she does wrong we should not excuse it because its Palin.
Its not certain she should be the conservative candidate for 12. She may be the person. But at this early stage it remains to be seen.
But we should defend her against all false attacks and get the record straight on what she is doing and saying.
Princeliberty
Princeliberty- Palin on Amnesty
Scope Sunday, February 1st at 9:17AM EST (link)http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2113058/posts
http://diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/002985.html
http://crooksandliars.com/cernig/palin-betrays-base-immigration-amnesty
So, is she for Amnesty or isn’t she for Amnesty?
This is not a timely question (correct thread)
civil_truth Monday, February 2nd at 12:29AM EST (link)In the past campaign, illegal immigration was on the back burner and not really a campaign issue. And as governor of Alaska, Palin is far from the front lines of illegal immigration (except of the Russian missile variety).
If and when she starts her Presidential campaign, she can formulate her position then - unless Congress stirs the pot before then to bring it to the forefront, in which case she’ll have to stake out a position sooner.
But right now, she’s addressing the issues that are timely - energy and the stimulus bill.
Not quite so sure why you’re so eager to bash Palin on immigration at this juncture. This is more like an ambush.
And Rightly So!
darned if they do...
calcons Saturday, January 31st at 11:04PM EST (link)Any gov. that speaks out against the “the package” will be hammered by the media especially here in California. Unfortunatly, our gov. has serious idendity issues. He is cheerleading this march into the abyss. We are in serious trouble in California.
And [as usual] all the usual suspects
Lord_Vegas Sunday, February 1st at 10:50AM EST (link)Use this as an occaion to line up en masse to bash Gov Sarah Palin.
Amazing isn’t it, the amount of fear the little lady engenders in the left [and squishy "center"]
__________
When I was your age….heck, I was NEVER your age
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The Minority Report Network
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This is not a timely question
civil_truth Monday, February 2nd at 12:24AM EST (link)In the past campaign, illegal immigration was on the back burner and not really a campaign issue. And as governor of Alaska, Palin is far from the front lines of illegal immigration (except of the Russian missile variety).
If and when she starts her Presidential campaign, she can formulate her position then - unless Congress stirs the pot before then to bring it to the forefront, in which case she’ll have to stake out a position sooner.
But right now, she’s addressing the issues that are timely - energy and the stimulus bill
And Rightly So!
Sorry Lord_Vegas, don't know how my reply ended up here
civil_truth Monday, February 2nd at 12:27AM EST (link)This was supposed to be a reply to Princeliberty upthread who was getting hot and heavy about Palin’s position on illegal immigration.
And Rightly So!
Reports False
bc3 Monday, February 2nd at 12:15AM EST (link)Reports that Gov. Palin was politicing for the stimulus were false.
I am amazed how many “moderate” (liberal) Republicans want to destroy Sarah Palin. Never has a single petite women scared so many big strong men.
bc3
She scares the crap out of them
CarlSchurz Monday, February 2nd at 12:23AM EST (link)All of them. Liberla Republicans, Progressives, feminists. All of them.
She is a woman, pro-life, who has shown that a woman can be a mother of more than 2.5 children, be successful and not have an utterly failed marriage.
I was on HRC forum during the election. All those Hillary Clinton supporters were in love with her.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
Why Do We Trust Anyone in the MSM?
crux Monday, February 2nd at 12:28AM EST (link)Spin, twist, hyperbol-ize, exagerate, smear, lie. The truth doesn’t matter. Just their agenda.
Journalism 101 - WHO, WHAT WHEN WHERE AND WHY. “Many governors…” (who are they?) Part of the stimulus? 10% maybe?
Do journalists even fact check anymore?