Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina (R-Heartless) has an op-ed in the NYT today in which he says:
A family winning the lottery and setting something aside to pay down the mortgage would be viewed as prudent. Why should it be different for our state, particularly if we are fourth in the nation in the percentage of our budget that goes not to teachers or health care, but to debt repayment?
So....it isn't important what we know or how we feel, if we aren't too far in debt. And did I say 'we'? I meant me, and in particular my standing as a Republican National Candidate.
From a story in Fox News (sorry), here's another 'compassionate conservative,' this time in Virginia, explaining why he voted against amendments for taking the unemployment benefits:
Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, said he had been forced to lay off 45 workers from his shipbuilding business and more layoffs were inevitable, so he had planned to back the amendments.
"But it has become clear to me that this part-time provision, flawed as it is, will probably stay on the books once we put it there," he said, urging a vote against the amendments.
Here's another from Virginia:
"Because the federal government wants to dangle money in front of us -- and I know that's very tempting -- to change some sound policies that have worked so well for this commonwealth for so many years," said Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County.
"It is not stimulus. Paying workers not to work does not promote economic growth," Byron said.
I just don't get it. Okay, having read George Lakoff, I do get it: they all think that good people have jobs, so being jobless is personal failure and shouldn't be rewarded. Even the guy who laid off workers in a terrible economy thinks that. Virginia Beach has an unemployment rate of 7.2%, a steep rise from 4.3% in September, but it's the fault of those laid off, don't you get it? Just ask the employers, why don't you.
On the plus side, I can't help but believe that progressives will be making HUGE gains in these states. The article about the Virginia amendment vote adds:
The vote was also a stinging rebuke to Kaine, Obama's hand-picked chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and becomes a major issue in Virginia's elections this year for governor and all 100 House of Delegates seats.
Well, we'll see who gets the final rebuke.