Texas governor Rick Perry is facing a probable challenge from Kay Bailey Hutchison. Following the usual rule of run to the right in the primary and then run to center in the general election, Gov. Perry announced he was not going to accept stimulus money for unemployment benefits. Cite
Has he gone stark raving mad? Can he possibly hold off Hutchison with this tactic? Usually, whoever wins the Republican primary will be elected governor of Texas. But, is this Perry’s, “Rape is like the weather” moment? Clayton Williams lost to Ann Richards.
Unemployment benefits aren’t exactly the bridge to nowhere. I can’t imagine the average person thinking well of a politician turning down unemployment benefits for their state during a harsh recession.
Perry held off Hutchison during the last election by kissing the ass of the Religious Right and inviting gay people to leave the state. I think he has gone too far this time and will hopefully lose the Republican primary.
As a recovering Texan, I’m betting that the fix is in. Gov. Good Hair (oh, Molly I, how we miss you…) will take a courageous stand against creeping socialism but will be forced against his will to accept the money, though he will find some way to ladle some humiliation and contempt upon those who apply for it. Austin Kabuki.
(See this Ben Sargent cartoon…Today's Comics Online | Read Comic Strips at GoComics…)
Actually, I think the Republican governors who are opposed to taking the unemployment insurance funds in this bill have a pretty good reason. Forcing the states to change their unemployment programs under threat of not receiving necessary economic downturn bailout funds is a cynical attempt by the Democrats to obtain that which they know they can’t if they took the issue on head on in those states. I personally object to that cynicism; I especially object to it from an administration that was elected in large part on a promise to modify how it would treat such political situations.
The governnor of my state, who, by the way, is otherwise a complete jackass in my opinion, is making the same stand. He notes, probably correctly, that when the next couple of years are over, the state of South Carolina will be forced to provide unemployment benefits significantly greater than what are provided at present. Somehow, the state of South Carolina will have to pay for that, probably necessitating an increase in the rate employers and/or employees are taxed for UI. Yes, it puts the state between a rock and a hard place, and yes, it’s going to make things harder for those who have lost jobs than we would like them to be, but I lay the blame not at the feet of the governors, but at the feet of those who put the bill together with the express purpose of forcing states to knuckle under to the pressure of this unnecessary Hobson’s choice.