Rep. Mike Pence appeared on ABC's Top Line yesterday to talk about the state aid and teacher funding bill the House passed Tuesday, with his usual bombastic rhetoric. Think Progress has it.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) picked up on that theme today on ABC’s Top Line, calling it a “massive state bailout.” When host Z. Byron Wolf asked what the GOP plan would be to help teachers who are about to lose their jobs — particularly the 3,600 in Indiana, Pence didn’t have much to offer:
PENCE: Well, look I’m married to a school teacher. My wife spent more than a decade in a public school classroom. So I love teachers! Teachers, firefighters, policemen are all Americans and they all know that the economic policies of bailouts and handouts have failed to create jobs.
He loves teachers! Loves all those hardworking public servants. He just calls them special interests because . . . well . . . Boehner said it first? Note that he doesn't have an answer to that question about what the GOP's grand plan is. But there's more to it than just that. Cue digby.
can you spot the fear and dissonance there? I knew that you could.
I'm telling you, this is where the vulnerable underbelly of their "just say no" campaign. They are voting against nice, white, suburban middle class Americans this time (along with nice brown and black suburban middle class Americans) with this crusade. And going after teachers, cops and firefighters is a very, very dangerous thing to do. And as I wrote before, the Democrats should throw it right in their face.
Fear and dissonance--the Republicans don't have an answer to the big problem of the day--fixing the economy and creating jobs. The best they can come up with is extending Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, and that doesn't fly as job creation with anyone. digby's got the right line for this.
"They aren't fighting the special interests. They're fighting us."